Black & White Tales 2: The Frozen World
by Loveon
Summary: Two years ago, a group of kids were responsible for the awakening of Kyurem, the legendary ice dragon Pokémon. Two years later, half of the Isshu region is covered in ice from said Pokémon. Now it's up to Blake and his friends to find out why Kyurem froze the region and how to stop and reverse the ice's progression.
1. Prologue: Frozen

_Author's Notes_: Welcome to the crappy sequel to BW Tales! Yaaaaay.

Okay, this isn't the greatest prologue out there. In fact, it sucks. But I just needed something to start up the story with and set things up. It'll probably be rewritten sometime in the near future.

There's no need to read any of the previous stories, though it would help to know some previous characters and their personalities. Japanese names will be kept as is for Unova-related things, because at the time of writing BW Tales (the previous story to this), the English versions hadn't been released, and it would be way too much work to go through it and replace every. Single. Name. Changing it now would seem awkward, you know?

But I won't leave you completely confused with the Japanese names. I'll mention everything's English names here in the author's notes part, along with some smart ass comment, probably.

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention something pretty important. The whole "Isshu region being frozen over" idea was, if you hadn't already guessed, inspired by the fact that when they released a new map of the Isshu/Unova region, half of the image was covered in ice. Now, I realize that they did that for a completely different reason, but my imagination got carried away and I was all like "OMGGGGGSOCOOL" and then this came about.

It's still based off the B2W2 games itself, though, with quite a couple of changes throughout the thing.

And with that, I present to you all BW Tales 2: The Frozen World! Enjoy. Or try to, at least.

* * *

Prologue

Two years ago, a group of kids was responsible for the awakening of Kyurem. No one really knows what exactly had happened, but seven children and two Gym Leaders were caught up in it.

When Kyurem awoke, it began to freeze everything around it. Everything, ground, plants, Pokémon, humans, all of it was caught in the ice, trapped there for who knows how long.

All we know is that the ice advanced very, very quickly. Within a year, the east side of the Isshu region was trapped in ice, capturing the Pokémon and humans unfortunate enough to not escape within it. Many trainers tried and failed to physically stop the ice's advancement, but they, too, were caught. And yet others simply refused to run and accepted their fate as is.

And then, the ice stopped.

Well, it didn't stop completely. The only thing that stopped was its quick advancement over the area. The ice is still advancing, though so slowly that one probably wouldn't notice it at all.

People tried to find out why this had happened. They knew, just from the starting area of it all, that Kyurem was the culprit. But there was the question as to _why_ it did it.

And the only two witnesses to the start of the ice advancement were two Pokémon. A Gym Leader's Swanna and a Swampert. Both belonged to some of the first people captured by the ice.

Swanna hadn't witnessed Kyurem's actual awakening; it had seen the advancement of the ice when its trainer decided to send it out.

But Swampert _had_ seen it all. It just couldn't remember what had happened.

A lot can happen in just two years. After the shock of the region's freezing, people struggled to restart their lives in different areas, particularly the west side of Isshu. New towns and cities were built in the west.

As Isshu's two regional professors, the Araragi family, had been caught in the ice of their own free will, the Isshu region was in need of a new regional professor.

So it was decided that a visiting professor in the region would take up the job.

A lot can happen in two years, that's for sure. A lot can happen.

* * *

The woman stopped writing on the blackboard and turned around to face the children who sat in their seats in front of her. One of the kids had his feet up on his desk, leaning back in his seat with a magazine opened up and covering his face.

"Blake!" the woman shouted. "Stop sleeping! This is important!" The boy didn't respond. "BLAKE! _BLAKE!"_

But the boy didn't even budge.


	2. Chapter One

_Author's Notes_: Okay, here we go. The actual story, none of that boring prologue stuff. Blake, Gwen, and Grey are the male protagonist, female protagonist, and rival. Why did I give them those names? Because I named them before their names came out, and the names stuck with me, so yeah.

Hiougi's English name is Aspertia. Mijumaru is Oshawott, Tsutarja is Snivy, and Pokabu is Tepig. Tsubaki is an original character of mine, to take Bianca's place for mysterious reasons.

* * *

Chapter One

The two boys raced throughout Hiougi City, passing by women, men, children, and Pokémon. One boy had messy brown hair that fell out over the red visor he wore, and the other boy's black hair stuck out in every direction wildly. Both boys were glaring at each other as they ran through the streets, but somehow managed to not run into anyone.

"I'll get my Pokémon first!" shouted the black-haired boy.

"Virgins run faster!" the brown-haired boy shouted.

"The hell does _that_ mean?! I'm a…" Noticing the stares that more and more people were starting to give the pair, he shut up before he said something embarrassing and that he would surely regret later on.

This was a day that the boys had both been waiting for forever. The day where they would finally get their first Pokémon. Just yesterday, they had received a note in the mail asking them to meet a "Mr. T" at the Hiougi Lookout Area, which was quickly approaching.

The two rushed up a flight of stone stairs, arrived out onto a paved lookout area. A beautiful, sparkling lake stretched out before them, surrounded by an endless expanse of trees. Mountains of green lay further on behind it.

But more importantly, a woman stood there at the lookout clearing. Her hair was long and black, and two pieces stuck up from her head. The woman turned around to face the two boys, dressed in an orange jacket, white blouse, and green pants. Glasses sat on her face, and she carried a strange cylinder in her arms.

"…Huh? Are you…?" the brown-haired boy began.

The woman smiled at them. "You two came! But I heard that there'd been three of you coming… where's the third?"

The two looked at each other. "We forgot about Gwen."

"She's gonna be so pissed."

The brown-haired boy turned back to the woman, clasping his hands together. "Please give me a Pokémon before I die and/or end up missing for three weeks! Like that one time last summer!"

"Yeah, remember how no one noticed you were gone?" the other boy asked.

"Shut the hell up, Grey! Miss Lady, please give me a Pokémon!"

"Only if you pledge to either rule the world alongside me or model nude for me!"

The boy screamed. "I want my lifelines baaaaacccckkkk!"

While the boy screamed, the black-haired boy heard the sound of heavy breathing and turned around to find a girl slowly walking up the steps, keeping a hand on the railing. Her hair was brown, like the screaming boy's, done up into two large buns and still having enough hair to let it hang behind her. A yellow visor was on her head, which didn't seem to be doing much at the moment except obscuring her view of the stairs.

The girl tripped and literally face-planted onto the steps. The brown-haired boy stopped screaming and clapped a hand over his mouth to suppress a giggle.

"I," the girl began, pushing herself up from the steps and looking up at them with blood dripping from her nose, "hate you guys."

The boy uncovered his mouth and sighed in relief. He wouldn't die today. He'd have to get his Pokémon first, and _then_ Gwen would kill and/or/quite possibly kidnap him.

"Miss Tsubaki," Gwen said, wiping her nose, "we didn't know you'd be here. Are you the one we're supposed to meet?"

"Of course"! the woman, Tsubaki, replied. "Being the assistant of Professor Birch and all, you'd think that you would've at least suspected that I'd be the one you were meeting. I mean, my handwriting on the note was pretty distinct, wasn't it?"

"You signed your name Mr. T," the boy said, sounding a bit like he was in disbelief. Gwen and Grey elbowed him in the back. "I'M SORRY!" he shrieked. "WHAT'D I DO WRONG?!"

"Wellll, I won't keep you guys waiting any longer!" Tsubaki walked up to the group, holding out the silver cylinder she'd been holding. "Here we go!"

She pressed a button on the side of it and it opened up, releasing the air inside with a slight whoosh, and showing three, red and white, orange-sized balls inside. Looking through the red tops of the balls showed three Pokémon inside.

"We have Tsutarja, the Grass Snake Pokémon!" Tsubaki said. "Mijumaru, the Sea Otter Pokémon! And Pokabu, the Fire Pig Pokémon! Who're you guys gonna choose, hmm? Ladies first!"

The brown-haired boy coughed something that sounded very much like, "Prejudiced bitch," but had his foot crushed by Grey.

Gwen hopped forwards, looking at the three Poké Balls carefully. She picked the ball in the center, which contained a small, orange and black pig Pokémon inside of it.

"I'll go with Pokabu!"

"Ohoho, good choice!" Tsubaki said. "Okay, Blake and Grey, now it's–"

"MY TURN!" both boys shouted. They glared at each other.

"You called her a prejudiced bitch," Grey whispered.

"So? I'm the virgin!" the boy, Blake, whispered back.

"So am I!"

"You lie."

"I do _not!"_

"Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

Gwen sighed. "They will be if you two don't hurry up and choose which Pokémon you want."

"Let's do reverse alphabetical order," Tsubaki said. "So Grey!"

Blake gaped at her. Surely she must've heard the prejudiced bitch comment. Shit, he should've just kept his mouth shut…

"I'll take Tsutarja," Grey said, picking the Poké Ball to the left of the cylinder. "That leaves you with Mijumaru."

Which was perfectly okay with Blake, as that was the Pokémon he wanted. He stepped forwards to grab the Poké Ball, took it, and promptly had the entire cylinder smashed up into his face.

"That," Tsubaki cheerfully said as Blake fell to his knees and held his blood gushing nose, "is for calling me a prejudiced bitch! How's it feel, Blake? Does it hurt _good?"_

"Frickin' fantastic," Blake grunted. And then, under his breath, "Bitch."

The cylinder came down on his head.

"I think I love you, Miss Tsubaki," Gwen said as she watched Blake fall to the ground and groan loudly for all the citizens of Hiougi to hear. "I've never seen anyone manage to hit Blake twice. He usually bolts after the first attack. Unless he's fighting with Grey."

"Do you love me enough to be my model?"

"No, not that much," Gwen quickly said. Grey casually stepped back to hide behind Gwen. He didn't need Tsubaki trying to imagine him as her nude model.

"So why'd you decide to give us these Pokémon today?" Grey asked. "The note you gave us didn't tell us much."

"Professor Birch thought you three should get your own Pokémon, because he needs your help with something," Tsubaki said. "He's still doing some preparations, but he'll come and tell you guys when he's ready to have you help him out! You guys ready to do that?"

"Of course!" Gwen and Grey said. Blake groaned loudly.

"So spend some time with your new Pokémon beforehand, alright?" Tsubaki turned and headed down the stairs. "Have fun!"

"Thank you!" Grey and Gwen called after her. Blake muttered something under his breath and finally pushed himself up.

Rubbing his nose, Blake looked down at the Pokémon that sat within his hand. Its body was a light blue color, its head was white, and little freckles dotted its cheeks. Its nose was yellow, its triangular tail and feet were dark blue, and it held a shell in its little white hands.

"Okay!" Blake leaped up and tossed the Poké Ball. It flew off the side of the lookout area, only to be rescued by Blake, who nearly threw himself completely over, and probably would have fallen if Grey hadn't grabbed him beforehand.

"Okay!" Blake said again, spinning away from the lookout ledge. "Let's _not_ send out our Pokémon here!"

"You're a moron," Grey said.

"And you just saved the moron. I lov–"

Grey slammed his foot down on Blake's and started towards the stairs alongside Gwen. Blake cursed like a sailor and hopped around for a moment before noticing that Gwen and Grey had already gone off ahead of him.

He took off running down the stairs. "Don't leave me behind!" Blake screamed.

People stared as Blake tripped into Grey and the two started to physically fight. Gwen, the innocent bystander, stood there and cheered them on in a not-bystander-ish manner.

"Come on, Grey, kick him in the crotch! Crotch shot, go! Use Crotch Shot, GREY!"

Gwen stopped cheering them on when she noticed a little girl skipping towards them. "Oh, Grey, here comes your little sister."

"White?" Grey kicked Blake away and hurried over to the little girl. He crouched down in front of her. "White, what're you doing out here by yourself?"

"I'm not gonna die if I leave by myself, y'know," White said. "I just wanted to see your Pokémon! Miss Tsubaki came by a moment ago and said she'd given you guys your Pokémon! What'd you choose, big brother?"

"Tsutarja is what I picked," Grey said. "Want to see him? Oh… I've got an idea." Grey straightened up and turned back to Blake. "Blake, how 'bout you and I have a Pokémon battle?"

"Eh, seriously? Okay, you're on!"

"Gwen, can you watch my little sister?" Grey asked. Gwen nodded, taking the little girl's hand and leading her off to the side. Luckily, the place wasn't too crowded, as most of the people had left when the two had started killing each other in the streets. The two boys put a fair distance between each other.

People who battled with Pokémon were, as was common knowledge, known as Pokémon trainers. And most trainers with a brain knew that their Pokémon needed space to fight, so this was why they had stepped back from each other. Personally, Blake would've loved to fight alongside his Mijumaru, but… It didn't matter right now.

"I've never seen my brother battle before," said White. "You think he's gonna win, Gwen?"

"Yes," Gwen said. "The chances of Blake winning are, like, zero."

"Ready?" Grey asked. Blake nodded. "Then let's start! Go" –and he tossed Tsutarja's Poké Ball into the air– "Tsutarja!"

Emerging from the ball in a flash of white light was a green and yellow lizard-like Pokémon. The way it looked at Blake with mocking brown eyes really pissed Blake off. He tossed Mijumaru's Poké Ball, actually having it open without it flying off somewhere else, and the otter Pokémon came out with an eager little hop.

Oh, god, this was so awesome! Blake suddenly realized something: he had his own Pokémon. He actually had his very first Pokémon, and he was about to have a battle with that jerk of a friend of his, Grey.

There was no way they could lose. Not right now, and not ever.

"Okay, Tsutarja, use Tackle!"

"Mijumaru, do something awesome!" Blake yelled.

"That's not an attack!" Grey snapped.

"It's fine, it's fine, Mijumaru totally gets it. Don't get your panties in a bunch."

"Are they fighting?" White asked.

"Yes," Gwen answered.

The two Pokémon seemed unsure of whether they should start fighting or just watch their new trainers fight, because the latter option was highly entertaining. They opted for the former option, charging at each other and slamming together. Mijumaru toppled backwards and Tsutarja skidded back, leaving a small cloud of dust in its wake.

Gwen started clapping, as did White. The two boys momentarily stopped fighting to stare at their new Pokémon in shock. Blake was surprised that they'd decided to listen to their orders instead of watching him and Grey fight. Back when they would have practice battles in school and the two of them would fight, the Pokémon would stand there and laugh at them while they beat the hell out of each other.

It was a wonder that he and Grey were even friends, now that Blake thought about it.

"See, that was totally awesome, just like I said!" Blake said. "Do that awesome thing again, Mijumaru!"

"Tackle again!" Grey said.

Tsutarja and Mijumaru leaped at each other again. Tsutarja spun out of the way of the incoming Mijumaru, stopped, and kicked off the ground to send itself flying back at Mijumaru. The lizard Pokémon caught Mijumaru from behind, and the otter Pokémon skidded across the pavement, its shell skidding off further away in the process.

With trembling arms, Mijumaru pushed itself up from the road. It noticed its shell laying there on the pavement and hurried to snatch it up. Holding the shell close to its body, Mijumaru spun around to face Tsutarja.

"_Miju!"_ it cried. It waved its shell in the air. "_Miju, Mijumaru!"_

Tsutarja snorted. "_Tsuta! Tsutsu!"_

"Whut?" Blake asked.

Tears welled up in Mijumaru's eyes. With an angry cry, it threw its shell. The cream-colored shell whizzed through the air towards Tsutarja. Tsutarja was smart enough to at least duck as soon as Mijumaru had thrown it, so the shell flew over it and slammed into the next best thing.

Blake's knee.

Everyone froze and stared. Hell, even the bird Pokémon singing in the trees went silent. Gwen quickly covered White's eyes and stared in disbelief.

"Well, isn't that interesting," Blake said. He looked down at the shell that protruded from his knee. "Hmm…"

And then the pain finally registered with his body. Blake let out a scream and crashed to the pavement, rolling around and really only embedding the shell further into his skin. Grey quickly grabbed his sister and ushered her back home, making sure she avoid the somewhat gruesome sight of the shell sticking out of Blake's knee.

"AH, AH! MY KNEE! MY GOD-DAMN KNEE!"

"_Miju, miju!"_ Mijumaru cried. It hurried up to its trainer, fretting about, trying to make Blake stay still long enough so it could retrieve its shell. The Mijumaru managed to tear the shell from his knee. It took a look at the blood-covered shell and wiped the shell on Blake's pants. It smiled and bounced around, swinging its shell back and forth before suddenly becoming angry at Blake.

"What's going on out here?" A man in shorts and a white lab coat stepped out from around the corner, curiosity on his face. He saw Blake bleeding all over the pavement and shrieked.

"That's new pavement!" he yelled. "You're ruining it!"

"You almost ruined my sister's eyes!" Grey shouted.

Mijumaru stomped its foot angrily at Blake. "_Miju, miju!"_ it shouted.

"This is the best day ever," Gwen said.

"MY KNEEEEEEE!" Blake screamed. "SHIIIIITTT!"

* * *

Author's Notes: Proven fact: Virgins don't run any faster than non-virgins. Don't ask where I'm going with this, 'cause I don't know.

Any questions, ask me via...uh... reviewing. Haha. And I'll answer it in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter Two

Author's Notes: Thank you, Oz-Oz and Light-Sakura, for reviewing! As for whether the characters from BW Tales will be appearing, that's a secret! Because I like secrets, yo.

Shizui's English name is Marlon, and he lacks that bizarre accent thing the English version gave him. (Have you seen the screenshots on the English website? "I was swimmin' with the Pokemon, and it felt real good." It's also easier for me to type his lines without giving him an accent from hell.)

Well, here's chapter two. Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter Two

"So, wait, let me get this straight…" Blake said slowly. "You need us to go and pick up a friend of yours who's arriving here in Isshu later on today?"

"Pretty much," Professor Birch replied. Blake sort of understood why Professor Birch was sending them in his place; the man still couldn't find his way around Hiougi, much less the Isshu region. After all, he was from the far-off Hoenn region.

Way back when they needed a new regional professor, Professor Birch was all, "Hey, I can be the professor," and then he made his home in Blake's hometown of Hiougi. He was a pretty nice guy, though he couldn't focus on much and his lab, built off the side of the trainer's school, was a complete and utter mess. In fact, even now, Blake was pretty sure that something was moving under the piles of papers by itself.

"I'll lend you guys my Tropius to fly on," Professor Birch said. "Just direct it in the direction of, uh… Tachiwaki."

"Who's a good Mijumaru?" Blake asked, holding Mijumaru in the air and blowing raspberries onto its stomach. Mijumaru giggled and squirmed around. "Good Mijumaruuuu!"

"Yeah, I almost accidentally cooked that Mijumaru this morning." Professor Birch grimaced. "Yeah, that would've been _preeeettty _bad."

Gwen and Grey stared at the professor in disbelief. Neither Blake nor Mijumaru seemed to notice what he'd just said.

"Well, no matter about that," Professor Birch continued, shaking his head to rid it of the memory of earlier that morning. "We can worry about small details like that some other time. Well, Tsubaki and I've already spoken with your parents about sending you to Tachiwaki to pick up my friend, and they all said it was okay, so there's nothing to worry about with that."

"Who's a good Mijumaru?" More raspberries from Blake. More giggles from Mijumaru.

"Uh, so…" Professor Birch paused to stare at Blake and Mijumaru. "…Er…"

"You are just so cuuuuuteeeee!" Blake squealed.

Grey turned to Gwen. "Ready?"

Gwen nodded, and they both kicked Blake on both of his sides. Blake dropped to the ground and shrieked like a little girl. Mijumaru hurried to retrieve its shell and watched its new trainer roll around on the ground.

"I need to clean up here," Professor Birch said. "That's why I can't go. That, and I really get lost easily. I wonder where Chillachino went? That thing loved to clean up the lab in Kanoko, so it'll probably help me with here… Never thought I'd be glad to have rescued that obsessive-compulsive cleaning Pokémon."

Grey kicked Blake a second time just because he could, enjoying watching Blake scream in pain. He was a bit overdramatic, but that made it all that much more enjoyable. Professor Birch abruptly remembered they were still there, mumbling under his breath as he headed over to another small desk and pushed aside various things until he pulled out three electronic devices.

"Here, I'll give you three Pokédexes. Use them well, don't do drugs, and here's my Tropius."

Professor Birch had the two black and red devices to Blake and Grey, and a black and pink one to Gwen. He also handed Gwen a Poké Ball, wisely choosing her instead of, say, Blake.

But Blake was too busy looking at his new Pokédex to notice. Holy shit on a shit sandwich, they were even getting their own Pokédexes? Could this day get any more greater?! He knew a bit about what a Pokédex could do from practice during class; they displayed data on Pokémon, and could even display your Pokémon's status and moves during things like battles.

"Make sure to register yourselves with it," Professor Birch said, heading outside with Gwen and Grey following after him. "As for Tropius, just make sure you don't insult him. He doesn't have a short temper, but he might do something to you if he really didn't like the insult."

"Do something like what?" Blake asked.

Professor Birch shrugged. "Oh, you know, the usual. Dropping you off into large bodies of water, into trees with Beedrill nests, into steep canyons…"

That wasn't what Blake would call "the usual." It was actually pretty _un_usual.

"Blake, hurry it up!" Grey snapped. Blake realized he was still standing there in the professor's lab all by himself and hurried outside, returning Mijumaru to its Poké Ball in the process.

Outside, Professor Birch had released his Tropius. The Pokémon stood on four legs, was mostly a brown color, and had a long neck. Leaves surrounded its middle and head, and four large leaves branched out from its back, much like a set of wings.

The three of them were supposed to fly on this thing?

"You sure that thing can fly?" Blake asked. "Looks like it'd fly all weird, like, 'whooooo, I'm a dinosaur, rawr!'"

Tropius turned to look at Blake. Professor Birch quickly reassured Tropius that Blake was joking and that it wasn't a dinosaur. Tropius looked unconvinced.

"Blake," Grey said, "you do the honors of getting on first."

Blake's heart swelled with pride. Grey was actually letting him go first! How nice. Maybe Grey was actually Blake's friend after all.

No, not really. As Blake went and sat down on Tropius's back, the Pokémon's head swiveled around and it bit him right in the face. Blake screamed bloody murder while Gwen and Grey tried not to hysterically laugh.

Professor Birch had Gwen sit in the front instead of Blake, who was to sit in the middle so Tropius wouldn't try and knock him off its back. Blake "ooh'ed" like a woman when Grey put his arms around his middle. Grey punched him in the face.

"Now," Professor Birch began, stepping back and staring at them, "the person you're picking up may or may not have a really short temper, so you might want to be careful."

"What, you don't know if they have a short temper or not?"

"Well, people change, you know?"

Noticing that Tropius was giving him the Evil Eye, Blake slowly bent down to hide behind Gwen, who didn't seem to notice what he was doing, and who was pumping her fists in the air.

"Go, Tropius!" she yelled. "To Tachiwaki!"

The four leaves on its back abruptly moved, beating downwards and pushing the Pokémon up into the air. Blake screamed and Grey pinched him until he stopped.

And then Tropius was off, flying out of Hiougi City and across the Isshu region.

Blake unwisely sent out his Mijumaru, who luckily came out onto his lap rather than off the side of the flying Tropius. It might've had something to do with the fact that Grey grabbed his arm at the last minute and told him to just press the button rather than toss it through the air.

Mijumaru looked out from over Blake's arm, wrapped around its tiny body so it wouldn't fall off. Mijumaru squealed and pointed at the trees and houses flying by beneath them. "_Miju, mijumiju!"_

"Yeah, that's called a tree," Blake said.

"I think it knows what a tree is, Blake," Grey said. He sent out his Tsutarja and Gwen, noticing what they were doing, let out her Pokabu. All three Pokémon looked around in wonder as they flew through the air. Obviously, as they'd never been in the air like this before. It was the first time Blake had flown on a Tropius, but not the first time he'd flown on the back of a Pokémon. His mother's Wargle was the first.

"Did the professor even mention _who_ we're meeting?" Blake asked.

"I don't think he mentioned any names," Gwen said. "Or… he didn't even mention their gender." Gwen frowned, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I wonder who it is? Professor Birch seems to know them, though, so they're probably a man."

"What, you think he's only friends with men?" Blake asked. "But it's probably a man, you're right."

Grey was usually one to say the opposite of what Blake said, so Blake was expecting him to suggest that the person they were meeting was a woman. When he didn't, he turned back to find Grey sitting there with a hand clapped tightly over his own mouth.

Blake wondered why he was doing this when it suddenly hit him. "Ohhh, you're getting _airsick_, aren't you? Gwen, Gwen, look! Grey's totally getting sick on this Tropius!"

"Actually," Gwen said, "this thing flies weird. I'm feeling a little queasy myself."

"Oh, come _on!_ You're both a couple of wusses! This is _nothing_ compared to Mom's Wargle! That thing flies like the craziest roller coaster you've ever–"

Grey vomited on the back of Blake's Jacket of Coolness. Blake started screaming.

"OH, GOD, DEAR ARCEUS, THE BASTARD JUST PUKED ON ME, OHHH, MOTHER-EFFER, IT'S DISGUSTING, SOMEONE HELP ME!"

But Tropius didn't decide to drop them off on the ground for a break. It just kept on flying while Blake screamed about the vomit, which in reality was nothing more that a bottle of hot water that Grey had brought along with them and poured on Blake's back.

Blake came up with the ingenious idea of just taking off the soiled jacket. For reasons unknown, he stripped off the shirt he wore underneath, even though it hadn't been affected by the vomit. Blake sighed in relief, feeling the cool air brush against his body, while Grey wondered why the hell Blake had also taken off his shirt and what the hell was wrong with his friend.

So Grey decided to spill more hot water on Blake's back. Blake started screaming while Grey and his Tsutarja started laughing. Gwen seemed to be off in her own little world, ignoring the screaming boy directly behind her.

Blake stopped screaming and glanced up to find a somewhat startling sight in front of him. Stretching out across the Isshu region was a block of ice. Another thing that had come to be known as common knowledge all around the world. The ice that had erupted from a place in the east and took up almost the entire east side of Isshu.

Back when it had first been reported, Blake, a then thirteen year old kid, had actually been terrified of it, especially before the ice stopped its progression. His mother had reassured him that they were far away from the ice there in Hiougi, so there was nothing for him to worry about.

But Blake had still worried. That was the first and last time that Blake had ever been that worried over something. He hadn't wanted to lose his home and possibly his Pokémon. The thought of the people who'd been unable to escape and the wild and captured Pokémon who were caught it in had given him nightmares. He'd dreamed of being trapped, unable to move, but able to see everything else around him.

Even now, Blake still wondered what it was like for the people and Pokémon in the ice. Did they see everything, or were they all just experiencing an extra long dream? Blake hoped it was the latter, and he didn't want to personally find out which option it was.

"Scared?" Grey asked.

"Of what?" Blake said.

"The ice."

"Why would I be afraid of the ice?"

"Uh, remember two years ago? Every single day, you were running around Hiougi screaming, 'OHMAIGAWD, IS TE ICE GONNA COME HERE TODAAAAAY?'"

"Hey, that was before it suddenly stopped taking over everything," Blake said. "I had a good reason to be scared."

"Blake, Hiougi's all the way across the region! It would've taken at least a year before it reached us, and by then, we'd be long gone."

"Hey, you never know," Blake said. "It might suddenly get super speed and just slurp up all of Isshu."

"Hey, yeah, who knows? Maybe it'll happen today."

Blake froze. Crap, he hadn't thought of that… Ah, well, it didn't really bother him any more. He could fight off the ice with his charm and great personality.

Yep, that's exactly how he'd fight the ice away.

* * *

"Hey…" Blake began as he unfolded his balled up shirt. "There's no vomit on here. How did that…?" He looked down at Mijumaru. "…Can you, like, magically clean clothes?"

Grey slapped his forehead. "For the love of… Blake, I sprayed hot water on your back," Grey said. "Why are you just now realizing this? Wouldn't you've suspected something was up when, oh, I dunno, you took off the shirt and _looked_ at it?!"

Blake ignored him, turning to Mijumaru. "I think it's dry enough now. Right, Mijumaru?"

Tachiwaki City was a place right by the ocean. The streets were black stone, and a small dock housed a single boat tied to a post there. Off to the south of the city were other various buildings that Blake wasn't sure of what they were. They'd landed in front of the Pokémon Center, a place they'd surely be relying on now that they were trainers. Pokémon Center's healed your Pokémon to full health and let registered trainers stay in their rooms for free. Now that Blake finally had his own Pokémon, he no longer had to rush into the Pokémon Center in his Jigglypuff costume and ask the nurse to please heal him because he was very injured.

"Looks like the professor's friend isn't here," Gwen commented. "You see him, Pokabu?"

"_Buu, buu!"_

Blake noticed the way that Mijumaru was staring at the ocean surrounding Tachiwaki. "Wanna go play in it?" he asked. Mijumaru eagerly nodded, taking off in the direction of the water with Blake following closely after it. Blake pulled off his shoes at the boat dock and leaped into the water after Mijumaru. The little otter Pokémon was as fast as a rocket in the water, zooming around him and escaping his grasp when he tried to scoop it out of the water.

Which reminded Blake. He should go and register his Pokédex with himself, just in case he lost it.

He pulled himself out of the water and, sitting on the dock, took out the red and black device that he'd stuck in his pants pocket. He hoped it was water proof, because it was completely drenched. Sliding open the top half of it, Blake watched as the screen lit up. It asked him various questions, like what his birthday was, his name, blood type, and it even asked for his fingerprint, though whether such a tiny device was capable of actually understanding a fingerprint was a mystery to him. Within a few minutes, he was finished registering it with him, and Blake glanced over at Mijumaru, who had hopped out of the water and was waddling over to him.

"Let's see how this thing works," he said, holding the device in front of Mijumaru. There was a beep, and a picture of the otter Pokémon appeared on the screen. "Let's see… Mijumaru, the Sea Otter Pokémon. Height, 1 foot 8 inches, weight, 13 pounds… The scalchop on its stomach is made from the same elements as claws. It detaches the scalchop for use as blade."

Blake looked down at the curious Mijumaru. "You. Are. So. Awesome," he said. Mijumaru squealed bashfully and hit Blake with its shell.

"Oh, yeah, I can't keep calling you an it," Blake said. "Let's see what your gender is…" Blake pressed another button on the screen, bringing up a slightly different one. "Let's see… You're at level 5, and you're… Oh." He looked at Mijumaru again. "You're a girl."

"_Mijumaru!"_ the female Pokémon proudly cried.

The water suddenly bubbled, and Blake quickly stood up. Mijumaru defensively hurried out in front of her trainer as the water continued bubbling, the bubbles edging closer to the dock. There was a large splash of water, and a young man leaped out of the water, landing on the dock, completely covered in water.

Blake was taken aback at the young man's sudden appearance. His dark blue hair had somehow retained its apparent form even though he'd been under the water. But rather, what Blake was staring at was the fact that his tan lines were ridiculously prominent. Except for his feet, his entire body was a dark tan color. The young man wore nothing but a pair of light blue pants and sandals.

Grey and Gwen came charging out from around the corner. Gwen shrieked and slammed into Grey, knocking him to the ground but keeping herself upright. "It's a merman!" she shrieked.

The young man removed a pair of goggles covering his eyes, letting them dangle around his neck. "Hey, there, didn't mean to scare you like that. You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Blake said. "Who the hell are you?"

"The name's Shizui," the young man said. "Gym Leader of Seigaiha City. Nice to meet ya."

This got Blake's interest. He knew what Gym Leaders were; exceptionally strong trainers who ran gyms around the region. Trainers who defeated them received gym badges, and by getting all eight gym badges, one could participate in the Elite Four challenge that was held three times a year here in Isshu.

"Nice to meet you, Shizui!" Blake said. "I'm Blake, I'm a beginning trainer, just got my first Pokémon today!" Mijumaru nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Gwen and Grey finally caught up to Blake, staring at Shizui. Particularly his odd looking tan.

"So, like, can we battle?!" Blake squeaked.

Shizui smiled at him and said, "No."

"Okaaaaay!" Blake shouted. "Let's go, Miju–"

And he stopped. And he realized what Shizui had just said.

"W-w-w-why not?!" Blake yelled. Grey started snickering under his breath.

"You said it yourself," Shizui said. "You're just a beginning trainer. You aren't at my level yet."

"Well, we won't know until we try, right?!"

"We don't have to try. I don't want your Pokémon getting hurt because of it."

"But–"

"Blake, he already said no," Gwen said. "Just accept it. You aren't at his level yet. Excuse me, Shizui, was it? Where'd you get your tan…?"

"So you're a Gym Leader, Shizui?" Grey asked.

"That's right. Nice to meet you guys."

"I'm Grey."

"And I'm Gwen!"

Mijumaru glanced behind herself and started tugging on the leg of Blake's pants. Blake turned to find what was possibly the most surprising thing he was going to see in a long time.

A boat, modeled after a seagull Pokémon called Wingull, was bouncing across the ocean waves towards them.

"What the hell is that thing?" Blake asked.

"I think it's a boat," Grey said.

"No, that's not a boat. That's a thing from hell. What the hell is that thing?!"

"You don't think that that's Professor Birch's friend, do you…?" Gwen hesitantly suggested.

Oh, please, no. Pleaaaasseee, no.

The boat came to a stop right by the dock, and the five backed up and away from the Wingull boat. Blake really wanted to run screaming back to the Pokémon Center. This was scaring him. Mijumaru held onto his leg and hid behind him, peeking out at the boat hesitantly.

A door from the boat's main room opened up, and a small girl and an old man stepped out. An actual Wingull sat on the girl's hair. The old man helped the girl down onto the dock, turning and staring at the people and Pokémon who stood there.

"You kids wouldn't happen to be the ones sent here by a Mr. B, are you?"

Mr. B? Oh, come on, what was it with these names that everyone kept giving out? Blake started nodding, having a feeling that Mr. B was Professor Birch.

"You mean Professor Birch?" Grey asked.

"Yes, that's him. Alrighty, then." The old man turned to the girl, plucking the Wingull off her head. "There you go, lassie! Have fun here in Isshu!"

The old man climbed back up into his boat and the Wingull boat took off across the ocean once again, leaving them all behind.

* * *

Author's Notes: Whoever might the mystery guest beeeee?! I think it should be obvious, but it might not be obvious, so yeah.

Wingull boat, hell yeah!


	4. Chapter Three

Author's Notes: Argh, I want this game so baaadd. I have to survive by watching videos on Youtube.

We get two old characters back into the story! Yaaaay. But Raven's not the same as before...

* * *

Chapter Three

"Um, are you the professor's friend?" Gwen asked the girl who stood there. The girl was shorter than all of them, with long, messy black hair, dressed in a sleeveless blue shirt with a black collar, black biker shorts, and black boots. The girl hugged her arms as she stared at the ground for a long moment before finally nodding.

"A… Are you…" the girl quietly began. She stopped and rose her voice just a bit to say, "Are you Blake, Gwen, and Grey?"

Gwen tossed her arms into the air. "That's us! Oh, and this guy here's Shizui! He's a Gym Leader! Know what that is?"

The girl slowly nodded once again. She glanced at the group there before averting her eyes to the ground. She hugged herself even tighter. "I… I'm Raven," she mumbled.

"Oh, so you guys were running an errand for the professor, huh?" Shizui asked. Blake thought it was amazing that he guessed all that, because Blake had already forgotten what they were doing here in Tachiwaki in the first place. "Were you supposed to pick up the girl here?"

"Yep!" Gwen cheerfully replied. "And now, we go back to Hiougi! So, come on, Raven! We'll fly back on Tropius!"

"No."

Gwen stared at her. "Whut?"

"I… have my own… Pokémon," Raven mumbled. "To… fly on, I mean… Um." Her hands slowly reached down to a black belt around her waist. She unhooked one of the Poké Balls, whose existence Blake had failed to acknowledge, and tossed it into the air.

In a burst of white light, it released a large, almost oval-shaped Pokémon with a large eye on the center of its body, and two smaller ones to the sides of it. A yellow antenna rose from the top center of its body, and three magnets hung from the bottom of its body, two in the front beneath the smaller eyes, and one in the back.

Raven hopped up onto the Pokémon's back, and it simply beeped in response, the magnets flashing blue and red for just a quick moment. "…Okay," Raven mumbled.

Blake, Gwen, Shizui, and Grey were speechless as they looked at the Pokémon she'd sent out. Blake had never seen a Pokémon like _that_ before, and there were some strange looking things out by Hiougi, starting with Tsubaki.

Shizui and Grey were the first ones to recover from their speechlessness. "I've never seen a real Magnezone before," Shizui said. "They aren't common here in Isshu. It's different from what I expected."

"Can I fly on it, too?!" Blake asked. Grey punched him in the gut.

"No," Raven answered. She sat cross-legged on the Magnezone's head, keeping her hands wrapped around the antenna. "…Are we ready to leave yet?" she asked.

"Ah, that's right," Shizui suddenly said, "you don't mind if I come along, too, right?"

"What, why?" Blake asked. Grey swung at him again, but Blake ducked just in time.

"Never been to Hiougi before," Shizui said. "And I'd like to meet the professor, too."

"It's perfectly fine with us!" Gwen said.

"Yeah, so how about you send out Tropius, then?" Grey said.

And in less than a minute, they were leaving Tachiwaki in the sky, with Shizui as an abrupt addition to the group. He sat with Blake, Gwen, and Grey on Tropius's back while Raven's Magnezone zoomed off again, only to realize it had left everyone else behind, and would turn back and fly back to them. Apparently, Tropius was slow. Blake didn't dare say this out loud, lest he wanted to be flying off Tropius's back.

This Raven girl was totally creeping him out. Why did she stare at the group so much? Why wouldn't she let him fly on Magnezone? He totally would've signed a release form so she wouldn't get in trouble if he was overcome with emotion and jumped off Magnezone's back. Why was she so tiny? Was she younger than he was, or the same age? Why was she friends with Professor Birch, who was old enough to be her father? Why did she arrive on a Wingull boat? Why, why, why? Everything about this was weird as hell.

…Well. Not like Blake had much room to talk. He was pretty weird himself.

* * *

Magnezone crash-landed in Hiougi City, right in front of the trainer's school. It slammed to the pavement with a terribly loud noise, rumbling buildings all around it. It tore up the sidewalk it crashed and slid on, discarding its trainer a fair distance in front of it.

"Holy shit," was all Blake could say to this.

People left their homes and rushed outside to see just what had happened. They stared curiously at the motionless Magnezone and at its trainer, who was getting up and brushing herself off like this wasn't a problem.

Tropius landed next to Magnezone normally, staring at it in disdain. Shizui hopped off Tropius's back and peered down at the motionless Magnezone.

"Is it dead?" Blake stupidly asked.

Tsubaki had rushed outside as well to see what had happened. She stopped at the steps and rubbed her eyes. "Whoa," she said. "I should stop drinking in the middle of the day."

"Annnndd there's little Raven!" Professor Birch stepped out of the trainer's school as well, passing Tsubaki as he walked down the stairs and onto the sidewalk. He headed over to the short girl, waving at her cheerfully. "Long time, no see!" he said. "How ya doing?"

Raven stared at the ground without a word. Magnezone suddenly moved, startling Shizui as it lifted itself up and beeped once. Raven returned it to its Poké Ball.

"Let's all go inside, shall we?" Professor Birch said. "We've got a lot to talk about. Nothing to see here, folks, just a Magnezone crash-landing in front of the trainer's school! Nothing to worry about!"

"No, that's really something to worry about," Grey muttered under his breath.

* * *

"EHHHHHH?!" Gwen leaped up from her seat, slamming her hands down on the wooden table in front of her. Raven recoiled from her, leaning off her seat and nearly falling off of it. Gwen leaned in across the table towards Raven. "Your friends were, like, the first people to get caught in the ice?!" She looked at Professor Birch. "Wait, wait, wait. Professor, how do you even know this?"

"I have a bit of a source," Professor Birch said. He took a Poké Ball out of his pocket, pressed the button on it, and released the Pokémon inside. The Pokémon that emerged was large and dark blue, with a lighter blue stomach and chest. Two fins grew from the top of its head, and orange, spiky fins came out from its cheeks.

"Swampert," said the professor, "look who's here!"

Swampert took one look at Raven and screamed like a little girl. He tackled her out of her seat, slamming her to the ground in a bear hug. "OHMAIGAWSH, I'VE MISSED YOU, YOU HAVEN'T GROWN AN INCH!"

"…Swampert," Raven mumbled in vague surprise.

Blake knew who Swampert was. It – or rather, he – belonged to Professor Birch's son. Blake had never realized why his son would have given his father one of his Pokémon until the conversation they had just had.

Two years ago, the professor's son and daughter and some of their friends had been the first witnesses to the ice's appearance and frightening quick advancement.

They had been caught in the ice.

But Swampert had been sent away by his trainer via a Gym Leader's flying Pokémon at the last moment, and had been brought all the way to Kanoko Town, in the south-eastern part of Isshu, to Professor. This was why the professor had Swampert.

Blake had never known any of these things until today, just a moment ago. No wonder Gwen was so shocked. Realizing that the crazy Swampert that they all knew had witnessed something like that and barely escaped was pretty shocking. Blake also felt like shouting out in disbelief like Gwen had, but had a feeling that Grey would hurt him if he did so.

"YOU'RE SO FLUFFY AND TINY AND STUFFFFF!" Swampert cried, rubbing his face against Raven's. "IT'S BEEN SO LOOOONNNNNGGGG!"

"Okay, Swampert, get off of her," Professor Birch said. "You're crushing her."

Swampert released Raven. "Sorry. I was just so, like, excited. I haven't seen you in, like, forever! Ohmaigawsh."

Actually, Swampert was probably the weirdest talking thing Blake had ever met. For one thing, he was a talking Pokémon. Two, he was weird as hell, which was really saying something when Blake wasn't exactly normal, either, but Swampert was _really_ weird. Three, he was even more scatterbrained than Professor Birch, who was like the king of scatterbrained. And four, he was willing to be Tsubaki's art model. Just the thought of doing that made Blake shudder.

Swampert returned to hugging Raven. "Hey, hey, can we reminiscence tonight and paint each other toenails?" he asked. Blake burst out laughing until Grey slapped a hand over his mouth. Blake bit Grey, and then the two were fighting on the floor, punching, scratching, and kicking until Shizui yanked them apart.

"In any case, Shizui." Professor Birch stood from his seat and held out his hand to Shizui. "A pleasure to meet you. Dan Birch is my name."

"I've heard a lot about you," said Shizui. He took the professor's hand and shook it. "It's an honor to meet you, Professor Birch."

Professor Birch nodded and sat back down in his seat, fixing his Lab Coat of Awesome for no apparent reason. "Anyways, Raven here once rescued me from some attacking wild Pokémon!" he said. "She rescued me with one of the Pokémon I had in my bag, and traveled around the Hoenn region with my son and daughter. She _also_ beat the Hoenn champion during the Pokémon League tournament," he added proudly, as if she was his own child.

"It was just an accident," Raven mumbled. "I didn't… deserve to win."

"Can we paint each other's toenails tonight?" Swampert asked.

"…Sure."

"YAAAAYY!"

"Alright, guys, listen up," said Professor Birch. "I'm getting serious now."

"Ooh!" Blake kicked Grey away and sat back in his seat. "Are you entering your Serious Mode, professor?"

"That I am, Blake. I'm entering my Serious Mode."

"For realz, man," Swampert whispered.

"I," Professor Birch said, "would like you guys to do some research for me, while you're on this journey I'm sure most of you intend to embark on. I was hoping one of you would at least stick with Raven and do the research with her, but if you don't want to, we have Swampert to help her."

"Yeah, we all know how reliable Swampert is," Gwen said. Swampert didn't pay attention to this insult, as he was too busy sniffing Raven's hair. "What kind of research are you talking about, Professor Birch?"

"It involves Kyurem, the Pokémon supposedly the cause of the ice covering part of the Isshu region. I want you guys to figure out things that I don't already know about it, and maybe figure out why the ice stopped advancing so quickly. Better yet, why it started to cover the region in ice in the first place. And, more importantly, we'd like to know whether it's still in its home at the Giant Hole, and whether we can remove the ice at all.

"It's not particularly urgent that you do it immediately, so you can just go on your journey and take your time with it, finding out things as you go along and reporting back to me. Blake, Gwen, Grey, Raven. Will you guys do this for me?"

Blake jumped up from his seat and shouted, "You bet I will, Professor Birch!"

"Me, too!" Gwen said.

Grey sighed. "Well, what the hell. I'll help you out, too, Professor Birch."

"And if you don't mind," Shizui said, "I'd like to help out as well. It seems pretty interesting. I live in the north-east of Isshu, in Seigaiha City. It's real close to the ice, actually. I'd like to find out some stuff about Kyurem, too."

"You guys…" Professor Birch burst into dramatic tears, covering his face and sobbing loudly. "You guys are the best helpers I've ever hazard!"

"Oh, god, he's crying. Tsubaki, Professor Birch is crying… again!"

"Oh, yeah." Blake turned to where Raven sat on the floor with Swampert. She was staring at the floor like it was extremely interesting. "We didn't get your answer, Raven. You wanna help Professor Birch, too?"

Raven looked up at him and quickly averted her gaze to the floor.

Gwen clapped her hands together, bouncing around excitedly. "Hey, we can all travel together in a group!" she said. "Would that be awesome?!"

"No, it wouldn't," Grey said. "It wouldn't be awesome _at all._ I'm traveling by myself."

"Come on, turn that frown upside down!" Blake said. Grey kicked him.

"Okay!" Gwen said. "We leave as soon as possible!"

"Jeez." Swampert snorted and shook his head. "What a bunch of hyperactive weirdoes."

* * *

Author's Notes: SWAMPERT, YAY!

Swampert: YAY!

Yeah, I got nothing else to say.


	5. Chapter Four

Author's Notes: Short chapter is short. Gochimiru's English name is, uhh... Gothorita. That's all I got.

* * *

Chapter Four

Raven decided to spend the night at Professor Birch's lab. She watched as Blake, Gwen, Grey, and Shizui left the school, and then the professor led her to where his lab was, connected right to the school building.

"Ahh, that's better," he said as he sat down in a swiveling chair. "Much better than those hard school chairs. And I can spin in this one. Watch!" And Professor Birch started spinning around in his chair.

Raven stood there in his cluttered lab, unsure of what to do or where to sit. There were papers and books nearly everywhere. The woman with the long black hair and glasses, who Raven recalled as being called Tsubaki, tackled Raven for no apparent reason.

"Welcome to the lab, Raven!" she said. "I'm Tsubaki, the professor's official assistant! If I can help you with anything, don't be afraid to ask! But, wow, you're a lot smaller than I thought. Not that that's an insult or anything. Small's just as good as big. I'm just a bit surprised. Hey, you want to be my model? I'm an artist, you see, and I need models for my work. I usually get Gochimiru to create imaginary models for me, but they're not as good as the real thing, y'know?"

"Word to the wise," Professor Birch whispered, "don't be her model. She wants you to go _nude_."

"Don't spoil the fun!" Tsubaki said. "Wanna be my model, Raven?"

And after a long pause, Raven said, "Not nude."

"Argh, why won't anyone go nude for me?!"

"It's not worth it," Swampert said. "And, hey, I offered to go nude for you plenty of times."

"You're already nude!"

Swampert gasped and covered himself with his hands. "Kyaaah, I'm naked in front of people! No one'll marry me now!" He started to bawl uncontrollably, but no one paid attention to him at all.

"Here, let me get a seat for you," Tsubaki said. She pulled a couch cushion out from a stack of books, paying no heed as the books toppled to the floor loudly. She set the cushion on the floor, stared at it for a moment, and said, "Okay, so I'll just go get a chair from the school–"

"This is fine," Raven interrupted. She sat down on the cushion. "…Thank you."

Professor Birch stopped spinning his chair, suffering from no side effects from spinning around for that long. He stared at Raven intently. "…You've changed," he finally said.

"You haven't," Raven said.

"So, what've you been up to these past couple of years?"

Raven shrugged. Swampert left on a quest to go find nail polish, banging around the cluttered lab and shouting for the pretty nail polish to please come to him if it wanted to live.

"Well, your Magnemite evolved," Professor Birch said. Raven nodded. "Any of your other Pokémon evolve?" Raven shook her head. "How's your mother doing with her new professor duties?"

"…Fine," Raven said. "Lucas is helping her out a lot. Dawn helps too, from time to time, and so do Nami and Wally."

"Well, how're _you_ doing?"

Raven shrugged and didn't answer. Instead, she said, "Um. Are… Brendan and Pearl and Danny… are they all…?"

"They should be fine," he said, knowing exactly what Raven was about to ask him. "People have been going out there and trying to check on everyone in the ice. You know, they use certain psychic Pokémon to tell whether they're still alive or not, right through the ice? Everyone, people and Pokémon, caught in the ice seem to be in comatose conditions. It's completely impossible to break through the ice, though. We have no idea how everyone's surviving without food or water, so it's just kind of a miracle in itself."

"Does… Does Swampert… How did he… How did he end up safe?"

"There was a Gym Leader with them when the ice broke out," said the professor. "She sent Swampert away with her Swanna."

"Why doesn't anyone… ask them what happened?"

"Swanna didn't see what exactly happened," Professor Birch said. "All it knows is that its trainer sent it out and instructed it to carry Swampert to Kanoko Town. But Swampert, on the other hand… He did see what happened.

"Then why–"

Tsubaki interrupted her. "He doesn't remember a single thing about that day," she said. "He can't really remember anything leading up to the event, either. We've tried, trust us, but he doesn't remember a thing."

"That's why I wanted him to go with you around the Isshu region," Professor Birch said. "I was thinking that traveling around the region again might wake up some memory in him, and he'll remember what happened. So would you be willing to take Swampert along with you?"

"But I already have six Pokémon."

"You have around eight with you, actually, don't you? One more won't hurt.

"COME HERE, LITTLE NAIL POLISH! WHO'S A GOOD KITTY? COME HERE, KITTY, KITTY, KITTY!"

"Speaking of Pokémon!" Tsubaki poked Raven's face for no reason. "Raven, you want to take one of the Isshu starter Pokémon with you?"

"No." Raven hugged herself and shook her head. "I just want to stay with my own Pokémon. And Swampert."

Professor Birch reached out and ruffled up her hair. "I'll get you a new Pokédex tomorrow, alright? For you to use on your journey. You sure you don't mind traveling with those kids?"

"I don't mind," Raven mumbled. "But… why?"

Tsubaki and the professor stared at her. "Why what?" asked Tsubaki.

"Why… do you want us to do this? Shouldn't we… leave it to… other people?"

"Wouldn't you like to rescue your friends and your cousin?" Professor Birch asked. Raven nodded. "As for why you guys, I trust you'll get the job done faster than those other people can. You guys traveling around and discovering things in different places… I'm sure it'll be more helpful than whatever they're doing. I can rely on all of you."

"Oh. Okay."

Professor Birch abruptly stood up from his swiveling chair. "Alrighty, then! Tsubaki, show her somewhere to sleep, won't you? And don't strip her naked in hopes of drawing her."

"I would _never_ do that, professor!" Tsubaki said, aghast at the professor's accusation. "No, I'll just ask her to rule the world with me. Raven, would you like to do that? Wanna rule the world with me?"

"No," Raven said.

Professor Birch grinned. "Maybe you haven't changed that much after all, kiddo," he said.

"C'MERE, LITTLE NAIL POLISH!"

Tsubaki and Raven left the crowded room and headed off through the lab. Tsubaki said, "After a while, you just start to tune Swampert out. Don't worry about getting to sleep, you'll sleep like a baby no matter what kind of weird noises he's making. Don't worry about a thing."

Easier said than done. Listening to a Swampert scream for the nail polish really made one worry about the state of his brain. Seriously.


	6. Chapter Five

Author's Notes: Okaaaay, longer chapter now. Time for English name time!

Sangi Town's English name is... Floccesy Town? I don't know if I'm spelling that right. Minezumi's English name is Patrat. Choroneko's English name is Purrloin. Annnnd Adeku's English name is Alder.

And were you expecting Blake's mom to be normal? Haha, no.

* * *

Chapter Five

Blake woke up that morning with a Mijumaru sitting on his head. Confused, he tossed the Mijumaru across the room and started shrieking like a little girl. And then he remembered everything from yesterday when his eyes landed on the Pokédex sitting by his bedside, and he relaxed.

"Sorry, Mijumaru." Blake apologized to the otter Pokémon, who was busy shunning him in the corner with her back to him. "I sort of forgot I'd gotten you yesterday. Come on, cheer up. Aren't you excited? Our journey officially starts today!"

This seemed to lighten Mijumaru's mood. She spun around and dove at him, sitting atop his messy brown hair with an overjoyed expression on her face.

Blake hurriedly got dressed and rushed out of his bedroom. Downstairs, his mother sat at the table, watching some game show on TV. She smiled as he bounded down the stairs, and winced when he tripped and slammed to the floor.

"Well, that looked like it hurt," she said. "Is your Mijumaru okay?"

"What about me?" Blake asked.

"Oh, you're okay no matter what happens to you. There's no point in even asking if you're okay anymore."

"Touché, young grasshopper," said Blake.

"Are you implying I'm a grasshopper? I'm not a grasshopper…" His mother bolted up from her seat and declared, "I'm a frickin' queen bee! No, I'm a praying mantis! No… I… I'm _both!"_

"We have ourselves a new species on hand, then!"

"Yeah, I don't care." His mother sat back down in her seat. "Did you pack your bags yet?"

"No."

"Did it occur to you that maybe you should?"

"Sort of, but then I woke up and it was morning and I had a Mijumaru on my head."

His mother sighed, turned away from the TV, and held out one of her hands. "Come here, Mijumaru. Blake, I'll feed her while you pack up."

"Make me something, too?" Blake hopefully asked.

His mother sighed again. "I guess, if I have to."

Blake turned and bounded up the stairs again. He dove into his closet, found a bag, and started packing thing in it. Clothes, his toothbrush, clean underwear… Uh. What else should he pack?

He headed to the bathroom and stole some things from the medicine cabinet behind the mirror. You never knew when you'd need Pokémon-printed bandages. They always made Blake feel better, so…

Blake headed back downstairs with his bag slung across his shoulders. His mother sat there with Mijumaru in her lap, having returned to watching TV again. She pointed at the floor, where a plate of food sat waiting for him.

Oh, come on, that was just wrong.

"Just kidding," his mother said before Blake could say anything about this. She picked up the plate and sat it on the table. "Couldn't resist it."

Just as Blake started to eat, someone began knocking on the front door. His mother sent Mijumaru to go open it. Blake watched as Mijumaru hopped up, grabbed the doorknob, twisted it, and let the door swing open.

Standing there in the entrance was Tsubaki. Blake shrieked and hid under the table.

"Blake, stop hiding!" Tsubaki screamed. She charged into the home and yanked him out from under the table. "You're late! How dare you make us wait?!"

"I didn't know there was a time we were supposed to meet at!"

"That's because I just made it up right now! Let's go, come on!"

"But my breakfast–"

"Don't worry," his mom said, "I'll finish it for you."

Not only was that not what Blake was worried about, but it was just another reminder that his mother was needlessly cruel to him sometimes. Okay, not sometimes. Like, all of the time. She didn't even bother rescuing Blake as he was carried out of the house by Tsubaki. As Mijumaru pulled the door shut and skipped after Tsubaki, Blake's mother shouted, at the TV, "Oh, come on! The answer's C, you dumb son of a–"

At the north end of Hiougi, just past the lookout spot where Blake had received his Pokémon from Tsubaki, was a gatehouse leading out to Route 19. As Tsubaki still resorted to carrying him to the meeting spot, Blake noticed Raven and Shizui up at the lookout area, apparently looking out over Route 19. When they noticed Blake being carried by Tsubaki, they hurried down the stairs to join Gwen and Grey in front of the gatehouse.

"Alright, guys!" Tsubaki announced, releasing Blake and letting him crash to the ground. "I'm going to show you all how to catch a Pokémon! Now, I know Shizui and Raven already know how to catch Pokémon, but I hope you two'll pay attention anyways. So, let's get going!"

Tsubaki led them through the gatehouse, a small place that held a few chairs for people to sit on, a TV on the wall, and a map next to wall. A ticker sat beneath the TV, displaying things like the weather and other crap that Blake didn't care about because he was really hungry at the moment.

Outside, the area in front of them was completely covered in sweet smelling grass, with many patches of the area covered in tall, thick grass. Wild Pokémon roamed the area, both on the ground and in the air. Trees were also as abundant as the tall grass.

"Okay, everyone, just follow me!" Tsubaki took off towards one of the taller patches of grass and began making odd noises.

"Is she trying to find a mate or something?" Blake asked. "She totally needs one."

"Blake, one day, someone's going to kill you for the comments you make," Grey said.

"Ahem…" Blake coughed into his hand a couple of times, patted his chest, and loudly said, in a perfect imitation of Grey's voice, "Sounds like Tsubaki's trying to find a mate again!"

Tsubaki came to a dead stop right where she stood.

In a perfect imitation of Gwen's voice, Blake said, "Haha, that's so true! Sounds like she's trying to find a Wailord, doesn't it? Hahaha, heeheehee!"

Tsubaki punched Blake with enough PURE AWESOME FORCE to knock his shoes off his feet.

"WHY CAN'T I FIND A BOYFRIEND?!" Tsubaki screamed, stomping on the screaming and shoeless Blake. "I SHOULD JUST GO DATE A WAILORD LIKE HE SAAAIIIIDDD!"

"You can't date a Wailord," Grey said. "Pokémon-human relationships and generally frowned upon in all regions and cultures."

"Besides, only Skitty can be with Wailord," Blake said. "Not a monster like you, Tsubaki."

Sadly, this didn't go over as well as Blake would have initially thought. Gwen and Grey had to work together to make Tsubaki stop hysterically crying, all while Blake echoed her cries in her own voice. Several wild Pokémon came to check out what was going on. Shizui and Raven just stood there and wondered what the hell was going on.

"Hey, look," Blake said. "Your mating call's attracted some Pokémon."

Tsubaki wailed even louder. "My crying really does only attract wild Pokémon! Why meeee?!"

"Blake, maybe you should stop doing that," Shizui suggested.

"Stop what?" Blake asked.

"Whatever it is you're doing to the poor woman."

"What? I'm not doing anything to her."

Shizui decided to not push the topic any further. He was a wise man, that Shizui. Very wise indeed.

"Hey, Miss Tsubaki, how about you catch one of these wild Pokémon for a demo, huh?" Gwen suggested.

Tsubaki sniffed, wiping her eyes and cleaning her glasses on her shirt. "R-really?" she asked, putting her glasses back on and looking at Gwen hopefully. "You'd want to learn from a boyfriend-less monster like me?"

"Why do you listen to anything Blake says in the first place?" Grey asked. "He's a worthless waste of space."

"Good point," Tsubaki agreed.

"Uh, hey? Still standing here," Blake said.

"And your point being…?"

"That's usually a sign to not talk about the person in front of them."

Grey shrugged. "Who thinks Blake's an idiot? Raise your hand."

Tsubaki and Gwen raised their hands along with Grey. Blake screamed in agony and fell to the ground. Still shoeless.

"ARGH, IT HURTS!" he screamed. "IT HURTS SO _GOOD!"_

"Annnnddd there it is," Grey said and sighed.

"U-um, Tsubaki?" Raven quietly began. She lifted a hand to point behind the young woman. "There's a Pokémon… right behind you."

Tsubaki dramatically gasped and spun around to face it. Standing there was a chipmunk-like Pokémon, with a tail whose end fur stuck out in every direction. Its entire body was covered in brown fur, being lighter on its stomach, and the area around its grey eyes was covered in black fur.

"A Minezumi!" Tsubaki said. "A perfect Pokémon to catch! 'Kay, everyone, watch closely! Smeargle" – and she tossed a Poké Ball in the air – "I choose you!"

The Pokémon that emerged held its brush-like tail in its hands, green tipped the end of its tail, almost like paint on a paintbrush. Dark brown spots covered its back, and it even seemed to have a hat-like object on its head and floppy ears.

"Smeargle, False Swipe!" Tsubaki said. Smeargle dove at the chipmunk Pokémon, lashing out with its tail and yanking it back at the last second. It still made impact with the Minezumie, knocking it to the ground and appearing to temporarily stun it.

"Ahh, I can always rely on you, Smeargle!" Tsubaki gushed. "Okay, guys, I totally cheated with that. I really shouldn't have had Smeargle Sketch the move False Swipe, but I reallllly wanted to, so it's perfectly okay! Now, you'll usually need to lower a Pokémon's health a bit more, but if you knock it out, that's it. You shouldn't catch a knocked out Pokémon… I mean, you _can_, but it just wouldn't be right, you know?"

Blake rose his hand. "I don't understand what you're talking about, Mrs. Tsubaki. Oops, did I say Mrs.? You'll never –"

Smeargle's tail collided with Blake's head, snapping it to the side with an unnatural noise and forcing the boy to collapse to the ground. Only Shizui and Raven seemed particularly bothered by this, mostly at the sound they'd heard when his head snapped to the side.

"Ignoring that," Tsubaki said, "it's time to use a Poké Ball!" She reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a marble-sized red and white ball and pressing a button on it. The ball enlarged to roughly the size of an orange. Tsubaki arched her arm back and tossed the ball at the still-stunned Minezumi.

The ball opened up as it touched Minezumi, sucking the Pokémon inside, shutting tightly, and dropping to the grass. Everyone minus Blake, who was dead, watched intently as the ball shook back and forth, back and forth.

And then, the ball stopped with a tiny pinging noise.

"And that's how it's done!" Tsubaki cheerfully announced. She went to pick up the Poké Ball and sent the Minezumi back out. "Hey, there, Minezumi! Nice to meet you!"

"Hey, I don't mean to be a spoilsport or anything," Blake said, recovering miraculously from his premature death, "but doesn't that Minezumi's eyes look weird?"

"Nothing a pair of glasses won't fix," said Tsubaki. She took off her glasses and handed them to Minezumi. "Try these, Minezumi."

"No, I mean the color," said Blake. "It's not red. They're grey."

And so they were. Tsubaki gasped dramatically.

"Are you… Are you freaking _kidding _me?!" she screeched. Half of the Pokémon on the route went deaf and/or died. "OHMAIGAWD, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"

"What, what is it?!" Gwen eagerly asked.

"It's a shiny Pokémon! Ohhh, sweet mother of Arceus, I caught a shiny Pokémon! Ohmaigawd, I have to show Professor Birch!"

Tsubaki scooped up the Minezumi and took off running back to Hiougi City. "Just go on ahead to Sangi Town!" she yelled back at them. "I've gotta show the professor this Minezumi!"

And she left just like that, without a proper goodbye. Not like it matter, at least to Blake, whose neck hurt and whose ears were ringing from all of Tsubaki's screaming. He was glad Tsubaki was gone, but he found that he had a new reason to be constantly terrified, because she'd left her Smeargle behind. The Pokémon just stared at him, even as Blake inched around it, grabbed his shoes from where they lay further away from him, and ran off through the tall grass.

Time to search for some Pokémanz!

"Mijumaru, use Tackle!" Blake said. Mijumaru slammed herself into the Choroneko they'd encountered; the purple and tan cat Pokémon slashed at Mijumaru in retaliation. Another attack from Mijumaru and Choroneko had fainted, quickly recovering and running back into the surrounding trees.

Blake fixed the visor he wore and looked back behind him. Everyone else was way behind him. He could see Gwen and Grey battling wild Pokémon, but Raven simply stood there and stared at the ground. Shizui was standing by the pond there, and to Blake's confusion, seemed to be having a conversation with the water. And Blake spotted a glimpse of Tsubaki's Smeargle, peeking out at him from behind the trees and giving him the death glare.

Blake shook his head and pretended he hadn't seen anything.

Sangi Town was right up ahead. It was just a short walk from the patch of grass Blake stood at. He could go on ahead, stop at the Pokémon Center, and come back to do some more training. That sounded like a good idea to Blake.

With that in mind, Blake took off running with Mijumaru clinging to his shoulder. He didn't get too far, however, until a booming voice shouted, "Hey, you trainer there!"

Blake skidded to a stop and looked around in complete and utter confusion. "Up here!" the voice shouted. And so, Blake looked up.

Standing atop the small cliff to Blake's left was a man with the craziest red, yellow, and orange hair that Blake had ever seen. That was saying something, since Blake's hair wasn't exactly normal, and neither was Grey's. Or Shizui's, for that matter. The man wore a yellow cloak around his shoulder, and a necklace of Poké Balls sat around his neck.

"My name is Adeku!" the man said. "Walking along with your friends and Pokémon… It certainly is a spectacular thing, isn't it?"

Blake turned to stare at the ground. Oh, god. His mom always said not to talk to strangers. This man wasn't a stranger. He was the stranger of strangers. He was a Stranger. Stranger danger, as his mom always told him.

So Blake quickly walked on ahead, trying his best to ignore the man who Blake felt like he'd seen somewhere before.

"Hey, wait!" the man shouted. Blake heard the sound of crunching dirt and whirled around in a panic to find that the man had jumped off the cliff and was now coming after him.

Blake started screaming and dropped to the ground. He frantically waved his arms around and screamed some more. Mijumaru rushed out to stand in front of him defensively. When the man got too close, she sprayed him with water.

"Atta girl!" said Blake. He scrambled back without actually getting up from the ground, looking extremely ridiculous in the process. Mijumaru hurried after him.

"…I was going to ask for your name," the man said, wiping the water from his face.

"No!" Blake screamed. "Stranger danger! STRANGER DANGER!"

"Stranger danger?" the man asked. "Where've I heard that before…?"

Meanwhile, Gwen, Grey, Raven, and Shizui had gathered together and were taking bets on what Blake was screaming about.

"Tsubaki came to marry him," Gwen guessed.

"He finally noticed he's wearing the shoes on the wrong feet," Grey said. "And they were still on the wrong feet before Tsubaki smacked them off."

"He forgot to brush his hair?" Shizui suggested.

Raven said nothing. The four stopped huddling together for their discussion and looked on ahead to where Blake was screaming. And then they saw the man with the crazy hair that blew in a breeze that couldn't have possibly been there; the cliff he stood by would have blocked any wind coming from that direction.

"Good god, what's Blake summoned now?" Grey asked.

"Is that a Pokémon?" Gwen asked.

Raven watched as Gwen, Grey, and Shizui ran to catch up with Blake. She stood there and contemplated following them or not. She opted to follow them at her own pace.

"How about you calm down and tell me your name?" the man asked.

"STRANGER DANGER, STRANGER DANGER!" Blake screamed.

"Champion Adeku," Shizui said, "what're you doing here?"

The man, Adeku, turned to face the approaching group. He looked just a tad relieved to finally be having a normal conversation with someone. "Well, if it isn't Shizui! Taking time off from the gym?"

"Sort of. What brings you here?"

"Don't you know? I live right here in Sangi Town!" Adeku turned back to the still-screaming Blake. "Why is that boy still screaming?"

"He's fond of overly long gags," said Grey.

"I'm Gwen!" Gwen said. "And this is Grey, and the screaming moron's Blake. We're from Hiougi City."

"From Hiougi City, you say…?" Adeku mumbled. He squinted at Gwen and Grey, then turned to squint at Blake and Mijumaru. "You three must be starting trainers, then! Alright! Follow me, you kids! All five of you, come along!"

Adeku turned and walked past Blake, who curled up into a ball and kept screaming until Grey ran up to him and feinted kicked him.

* * *

Author's Notes: Stranger danger. Seriously, why is everyone so willing to give their names away to a guy with crazy hair and hairy legs who jumps off cliffs with no side effects and whose hair blows in the wind that probably doesn't exist in the first place?!

Don't get me wrong, Alder's awesome, though.


	7. Chapter Six

Author's Notes: This chapter is weird. If you read Hoenn Tales, you'll notice that this chapter is the one with that excerpt I posted in one of the chapters.

Haderia's English name is... uh... Herdier? I don't know.

* * *

Chapter Six

"Jeez, you must've killed everyone in Sangi Town with your screaming!" Grey complained, rubbing his ears and muttering something else under his breath.

"Stranger danger," Blake muttered.

"Say it again and I'll really kick you."

"Stranger danger."

Grey kicked Blake in the back of his legs, but as Blake had already grown an immunity to such attacks, it had no effect.

The paved roads of Sangi Town started abruptly, leading them into a small town sparsely filled with buildings and people. The first building that they all spotted was the Pokémon Center, with its bright red roof and blue windows.

"You kids should go get your Pokémon healed up!" Adeku called from where he stood further on ahead.

"I'll think about it!" Blake shouted back. And Grey punched him, but after so many hits to the head, Blake had grown an immunity to this as well.

They stopped at the Pokémon Center, where the nurse healed Blake, Gwen, and Grey's Pokémon. They headed back outside, wandering through the mostly empty streets of the town, all the way up to the northernmost area of the town. Two garages sat there, and a house sat by them, with a battlefield out front.

Adeku stood in front of the garages, apparently waiting for them. Blake screamed, charged towards one of the garages, did a barrel roll past Adeku for no apparent reason, and wrapped his arms around one of the cars.

"Ohhh, I love you," he told the car.

Adeku pointed at Blake with his thumb. "Is that boy okay?"

"No," Grey and Gwen said in unison.

Adeku seemed to finally notice that Raven was with the group. "Hello there, young lady! And what's your name?"

"…Raven," she mumbled.

"Raymond?" Adeku asked.

"No, Raven!"

"Alright. Raymond, Gwen, Grey, and Shizui. Right up ahead is Route 20. And–"

"CAR," said Blake.

Adeku paused, appearing to have forgotten what he was about to say. He blinked a couple of times, shook his head, and turned back to the other four. "Right. Route 20 is up ahead. Now, are you absolutely sure that your friend's okay?"

"Like we said, he's not okay at all," Grey said. He ran up, pried Blake off the car, and dragged him off down the road, to the exit of the town. All while Blake sang (or rather, screamed) a horrible song about his precious friend named Car. Gwen, Shizui, and Raven slowly followed after them, keeping a fair distance away from Blake.

A river meandered along through the route, small wooden bridges crossing over the river. Grey was already battling a boy dressed in orange and white. His Tsutarja slapped the boy's Minezumi, knocking it back into the river. The boy fished out the unconscious Minezumi from the water before it drowned.

"Hey, Grey," Blake said, running up to the boy. "So, how 'bout that battle? Right here, right now?"

"No," Grey said. "I'm going to the Sangi Ranch to train. You can come along if you want."

"I don't need your permission, foo'."

Grey rolled his eyes and left Blake behind, crossing over another bridge and heading off to another part of the room. Gwen, Shizui, and Raven finally caught up with Blake, who was staring at the water intently.

"Where's Grey going?" Gwen asked.

"He said he was heading to some Sangi Ranch," Blake answered. "Okay, so let's go to the next town! I'm so ready to go to the next town! Who's with me?"

No one said a word. Gwen didn't answer him because she knew that answering him would only lead to bad things, and Raven and Shizui didn't answer because they had no idea what they should be doing.

"Oh, come on! A little enthusiasm here, pleeeasseee?" Blake said.

"Yaaay," said Gwen.

"That's the spirit!"

"I'm guessing that you want to collect all the gym badges, right?" Shizui asked. Blake eagerly nodded, getting that look he got before he did or said something stupid. Which was actually just his default expression. "Tachiwaki _does_ have a gym, but I think you'll want to face the first official Gym Leader before that. The Gym Leader of Tachiwaki might be a bit too tough for you at the moment."

"Then I'll just train like Grey and be awesome!" Blake took off running across the same bridge that Grey had crossed, getting challenged by a girl standing there. Gwen, Raven, and Shizui watched as he battled the girl with his Mijumaru and won, and then watched as Blake and Mijumaru got into an argument about something that no one understood. And then he was off running again.

"He sure has a lot of energy, doesn't he?" Shizui said.

"Tell me something I don't know," said Gwen. She sighed and slowly started after Blake.

* * *

"God, there's, like, nothing here!" Blake shouted. It was so empty at the ranch that his voice echoed back at him. Though that might've actually just been his imagination talking to him. Again.

The Sangi Ranch was north of the route, filled with farm houses and lots of fences, but at the moment, Blake couldn't see any Pokémon or people.

"Arrggh, this is sooooo disappointing!" Blake whined. Mijumaru hit the back of his leg with her shell, thoroughly pissed off at him for some reason that Blake still didn't understand.

"Blake!" Grey's voice shouted. Blake gasped dramatically and spun around to face the black-haired boy who was approaching him from behind. Blake didn't even notice that Grey had somehow ended up behind him like that.

"So I was thinking…"

"You finally decided to do something about your attitude problem?" Blake cheerfully asked.

"Haha, very funny," Grey said. "No, it was about your battle request." Grey lifted his arm, Poké Ball in hand. "I think I'd like to take you up on that offer."

Blake was so stunned that he stood there with his mouth hanging wide open, but he quickly got over it. "Alright, you're on! Let's go, Mijumaru!"

"Tsutarja, go!" Grey shouted, tossing the Poké Ball in the air and letting out the green lizard-like Pokémon. "Use Tackle!"

Mijumaru screamed in frustration when Blake ordered the same move for her, but launched herself at Tsutarja, who did the same. The two slammed into each other and knocked each other back, skidding along the grass and waiting for the next order.

"Use Leer!"

"Tackle, again!" Blake said.

Mijumaru screamed and threw her shell to the ground. She spun around to face Blake and started screaming Mijumaru-speak at him. Sadly, none of this registered with Blake's tiny brain, so he just stared at her while she screamed at him.

"What the hell?" Blake finally said. Mijumaru screamed, picked up her shell, and threw it at him. Blake maneuvered by pressing the L button and rolling to the right.

"Why does she keep screaming at me?!" Blake yelled. Mijumaru huffed, spun around to face Tsutarja, and blasted it with water. Blake's jaw dropped open. "Ohhh, hey, that's a different move! When'd you learn that?"

Grey was really regretting accepting Blake's battle offer. Why was he even friends with such a moron?

"Tackle!" Grey ordered. Tsutarja slammed into Mijumaru, who blasted it back with water and ran back to Blake, picked up her shell, and threw it at Tsutarja. The shell knocked it in the head, and Tsutarja just stood there, stunned.

"Finish it!" Blake shouted, and started cackling like an evil villain just because he could.

Mijumaru ran up to Tsutarja and tackled it back into the grass, knocking it unconscious. Grey stood there, just as stunned as his Tsutarja had been from the abrupt shell attack, before shutting his open mouth and returning Tsutarja to its Poké Ball.

"YAAAY, BLAKE WON!"

Seconds later, Swampert crashed into Blake and knocked him to the ground. Mijumaru started screaming at Swampert, who just stared at her in confusion.

"I'm sorry," Swampert said. "I know he's yours, but I just want to celebrate." He paused, and then sand, "Cele-b-r-a-t-e."

"_Miju! Mijumaru!"_

"Yeah, okay, I said I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Here, you can have him back now. The momentary joy is over."

"Hmm," Grey mumbled. "We almost had you there, I was sure…" And then, louder, he said, "You're better than I thought you'd be, Blake."

Sadly, Swampert's crushing Blake had temporarily snapped said boy's spinal cord, so he was unable to hear Grey's rare compliment. Blake gasped, life returning to him, and Swampert starting clapping.

"Sorry, I crushed you, didn't I?" Swampert said. "Whoopsie-daisy."

Gwen, Shizui, and Raven slowly approached the group, making sure to take their time about it, too. As they reached the two boys, Gwen nudged Raven in the side, and the short girl stepped towards them, taking something out of the backpack that was slung over her shoulders.

"Grey, your sister wanted me to give you this," Raven mumbled, holding out a small, blue cylinder to him. Grey took it, looking just slightly surprised by it.

"A Town Map, huh? Oh, yeah, I left home without saying goodbye to her. Thanks, Raymond."

"It's Raven," she corrected.

"Raymond?" Blake asked. "Ahahaha, that's frickin' hilarious! Raymond!"

Blake was expecting some sort of physical harm done to him for this, but Raven simply stepped back and hid behind Shizui and Gwen. As Blake laughed without a care in the world, starting to sound semi-hysterical and scaring Grey and Swampert, two people came out of nowhere and approached the group.

A man and woman, walking along with a dog Pokémon hurrying along between them.

"That was a nice battle, kids," the man said. "That's good, that's good."

"Who're you?" Grey asked, looking relieved to have something to take his attention from the hysterical Blake.

"Me? I'm this here ranch's owner. And this here's my wife."

The woman smiled at them and headed closer to Grey and Blake. She handed them two blue spray bottles. "Here," she said. "Medicine for your Pokémon."

"Yaaay, thankies!" Blake said. He quickly bent down next to Mijumaru and sprayed her with the bottle. Unfortunately, he sprayed her right in the face. Mijumaru shrieked, grabbed her shell, and drove it into Blake's leg. Blake started screaming and toppled backwards, rolling around on the grass and screaming in pain.

"OHHH, MOTHER-EFFER, MY LEGGGGG!"

"Anyways," the man said, oblivious to Blake's strange behavior, "you kids wouldn't have happened to see a Haderia around here, have you? Looks just like this fella here." He gestured to the dog Pokémon standing between him and his wife.

"Eh? I didn't see any Haderia on our way here," said Gwen.

"Neither have I," Grey said. "But we can't just stand around and do nothing! Come on, guys, let's look for this guy's Haderia!"

Swampert bent down to be at eye level with the other Haderia and woofed at it. The dog Pokémon barked back and him, and Swampert screamed and took off running. Haderia chased after him for no reason other than that it was really, really bored.

And the search was on. The five kids searched around the ranch for Haderia, but to no avail. Meanwhile, the ranch owner had to pry his Haderia off of Swampert, who was pretending to be dead in hopes that this would make Haderia leave him alone. It didn't work; Haderia had proceeded to happily chew on his tail while Swampert cried dramatically.

Mareep, fluffy electric sheep Pokémon, dotted the ranch, kept behind fences in case they went insane and went on a Mareep stampede. To the north of the ranch, Shizui found a janitor for some bizarre reason, who grinned at him while he mopped up the grass. Shizui slowly went back to where Grey was searching nearby, pretending that he hadn't just seen a janitor mopping up grass on a ranch.

"Any luck?" Grey asked him, straightening up from where he was searching through the grass.

"I haven't seen anything at all, nope," Shizui quickly said.

"HAI, GUYS," Swampert said, galloping towards them with a Mareep in his arms.

Grey asked, "What're you doing?"

"Holding a Mareep," Swampert answered.

"We can see that. Can't you help us find Haderia?"

"Sure, I already saw it." Swampert pointed off ahead of them. "Some guy was with it, up ahead."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU MENTION THAT EARLIER?!"

"'CAUSE I DIDN'T TINK IT WAS IMPORTANT, MAN!" Swampert shouted back. He squeezed Mareep until it went "Mareeeeeep."

Grey hurried off in the direction Swampert had pointed in while Shizui went to go find Blake, Gwen, and Raven. Swampert waited until the four arrived back to where he was, and started following them, still holding the Mareep tightly in his arms.

And then, he started to sing.

"Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mareep."

"_Baa baa."_

"Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mareep!"

"_Baa baa!"_

"Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mareep!"

"_Baa baa!"_

"Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-mar–"

"Oh, good god, shut up," Blake interrupted.

Swampert was not a happy Swampert from that comment. He cried into the Mareep's fluffy fur and continued walking without looking up from it once.

"Shh, be quiet!" Grey snapped from nearby. Swampert's crying abruptly subsided. Everyone stood still and listened.

And then, something woofed.

"A PUPPY!" Swampert cried.

"Shut _up!"_ Grey snapped again. Swampert started to quietly sob, but Grey didn't pay any attention to him. Shizui patted Swampert's shoulder reassuringly. "Did you guys hear that, though?" Grey asked.

"Yeah, and so did Swampert," Blake said.

"I'll look over here!" Grey yelled, turning and running through the tall grass. The area was covered in irregular patches of the tall grass, and groups of trees. "You guys look around the area!"

"Why's he so determined?" Swampert mumbled. "Is he a determinator? He yelled at me. He's a scary man, isn't he, Mareep?"

"_Baaaa."_

"Oh, yeah," Swampert said as everyone spread out to search for the Haderia. "I think there's something over there. I saw a glimpse of orange and a devilish-lookin' fella in black."

"WHERE?!" Grey shouted.

"Shh, he'll disappear if you keep it up!" Swampert whispered.

Grey stomped over to Swampert, glaring at him. "Where. Are. They?" he asked.

"Oh. Ver. There." Swampert jabbed his finger at a patch of trees.

Instead of simply walking through the trees, Grey took the long way around, arriving at an opening in the patch of trees. Standing there was a man in black, with bright orange hair, and a Haderia. The man advanced on the Haderia, who backed up and growled at him.

"PUPPY!" Swampert shouted, and burst on through the trees, legs getting entangled in the low-hanging branches and knocking him to the ground. He crushed the Mareep with his weight, but it simply went, "_Baaa,"_ at him.

"Gwen!" Grey yelled, hoping that she would hear him. "Go get the Haderia's owner! I'll deal with this–"

"FOO'!" Swampert finished. He stood up and flexed his arms. "Come on, battle with me, Grey, my man! We can have a character-defining moment right now!"

The man had turned away from the Haderia and was alternating glares between the two. "Kuh… Don't interrupt me!" he shouted at them. "I am a member of Team Plasma. Do you… know of Team Plasma?"

Swampert gasped, eyes widening. And then he said, "No, tell me, tell me, please, please, please!"

"I know of you," Grey quietly said.

"That's right! Two years ago, we were rescuing Pokémon from their terrible owners! We intended to become the Isshu region's–"

"You're already boring me," Swampert said.

"…Well," said the man. "That was our goal back then. We have a different goal in mind this time. And here I found this lost Haderia, a perfect subject, but then I was found by a little kid–"

"And an awesome Swampert," Swampert added.

"You ruined everything!" the man shouted. "Just… take this thing and do what you want!" The man threw a disc at Grey and took off running, slamming into the approaching Blake, Raven, and Shizui. They watched with curiosity as the man ran along through the patches of trees and grass and disappeared from sight.

"What was _that?"_ Blake asked. He walked around the corner of the trees and found Grey getting his face licked by the Haderia. "Awe, how cuuuuteeee!"

"Sh-shut up!" Grey snapped. "Stupid Swampert pushed it on to me!"

"But it's so cute and fluffy!" Swampert said. He squeezed Mareep. "Just like this Mareep."

"That thing should be _dead_ after you crushed it!"

"Are you implying I'm fat?" Swampert asked.

"_Yes!"_

Swampert started crying into Mareep's fluffy coat.

Gwen eventually came back with the man from earlier, who was elated to see his Haderia was okay. He thanked the group and led them out of the maze-like area, back to the actual ranch, where they were thanked profusely by the man's wife and the man himself.

The group left Sangi Ranch together. Swampert was forced to give the Mareep back to its owners.

He cried into Grey's hair the entire walk back to Sangi Town.

* * *

Author's Notes: I told you this chapter was weird. Certain parts made me actually laugh and slam my head down on the keyboard because I don't know what I was on when I wrote it.


	8. Chapter Seven

_Author's Notes_: We introduce the new Gym Leader of Hiougi City, Seita! He's an original character, of course.

I need to work on my battle scenes. They're never... actiony. They lack action is what I'm trying to say. Any tips, anyone?

* * *

Chapter Seven

"Back so soon?" asked Adeku, as the five trainers plus Swampert arrived back into Sangi Town. "Well, that's great. I have something I'd like you kids to do for me. Follow me, will you?"

"What?" Blake stupidly asked as Adeku, who had spontaneously greeted them upon their arrival back into the town, turned and started to walk away. Gwen elbowed him in the side as she walked past him.

"He wants us to follow him. Come on!"

Still completely and utterly confused, Blake hurried after Gwen, Raven, Shizui, and Grey.

Adeku led them to the small home Blake had noticed, the one by the two garages and with a battlefield out front. White lines indicated the field's placement. Blake wondered if this was Adeku's home, but kept silent, lest he wanted to die at Gwen or Grey's hands. He was just waiting for Gwen to make him "mysteriously" disappear like last year.

Inside the house stood two kids, both of them probably younger than Blake was. They both looked up in surprise as the group entered the house.

"Mister Adeku, are these the trainers you told us about?" one of the kids asked.

"Eh, but they don't look very strong!" the other said.

"Watch it, brat," Blake grumbled.

"I'd like for you to battle one another," said Adeku. "Blake, your opponent will be this here boy. Now, who'd like to battle the girl?"

Gwen's hand shot up. "Me, meeeee!"

"Alright, then we'll have a double battle. Let's go outside to do this."

Adeku led them back outside, where Gwen and Blake stood at one end of the field, and the boy and girl stood at the other end. Blake wondered if Adeku made anyone he found battle here at this field. He must've done it often enough, since he had a battlefield right outside his probable-home.

"Ready?" Adeku asked. "Then begin!"

"Hiyappu, go!" the girl shouted, tossing a Poké Ball through the air.

"Baoppu, go!" the boy said.

"Pokabu, I choose you!" Gwen said, tossing her Pokabu's Poké Ball into the air.

"Go, Mijumaru!" Blake sent out the otter Pokémon to battle, since, after all, she was his only Pokémon. The two kids they were battling had sent out two monkey Pokémon that were distinctly different from each other, but also alike. Both were tan, but one was blue, with a cloud-like thing atop its head, and the other was red, with a flame-like thing on its head.

"Use Water Gun!" Blake said.

"Pokabu, use Ember!"

"Baoppu, Lick!"

"Hiyappu, Water Gun!"

The Pokémon attacked each other simultaneously. Mijumaru blasted the red monkey with water; it ran up to Mijumaru and licked her across the face. The blue monkey blasted Pokabu with water as well, and Pokabu, stumbling over, snorted out flames back at it.

"Pokabu, use Tackle, 'kay?" Gwen said. Pokabu nodded, running at Baoppu, the red monkey Pokémon, and slamming into it, knocking it unconscious from the simple attack.

"Do that shell thing you like to do, following it with Tackle!" Blake said. Mijumaru detached her shell and sent it flying through the air, keeping in close pursuit with the shell. The shell hit Hiyappu in the forehead, and then Mijumaru rammed into it. Hiyappu skidded backwards before falling unconscious to its back.

Shizui started clapping, as did Adeku. Grey and Raven just watched in silence. The two trainers Gwen and Blake had battled returned their Pokémon and bowed to them.

"Good job, you four!" Adeku said. "Water is strong against fire types, but not very strong against other water types or grass types. Wish I could have found a trainer with a Yanappu… Could've had a triple battle, then!"

Blake was silently glad that Adeku hadn't found a third trainer to force into a battle. He plucked up Mijumaru from the ground and started blowing raspberries onto her stomach. "Good Mijumaru!" he squealed. "Good Mijumaru! Who's a good Mijumaru! Yes, you are! Yes, _you are!"_

Everyone stared at Blake in silence.

"Well," Adeku said, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence and turning away from the arguably insane Blake, who was still blowing raspberries on Mijumaru's stomach. "I heard that the Hiougi Gym Leader's finally back in town. Maybe you kids should go back there and officially start your gym challenge!"

* * *

"Welcome back, Seita! Where'd you journey to this time?"

"Oh, you know, just visiting my sister overseas…"

"You ready for your first official gym challengers? You're getting a bunch of them!"

"Ahahah, I've… noticed them gathering."

A young man with spiky brown hair walked through the streets of Hiougi, being greeted by the residents of the city. A loose fitting black t-shirt hung from his body, and he carried a backpack over one shoulder, the contents nearly falling out of the bag and onto the sidewalk. The young man had six black spots on his face, three under each eye.

The young man headed to the trainer's school, where a small crowd had gathered outside. Most of them were trainers; that much, he knew. But the face that they were all gathered outside, waiting for him…

"Wait," Blake said, "when'd we get a Gym Leader?"

He stood among the crowd out front, alongside his mother. His mother said, "It was last year, don't you remember?"

"No, Mom, I wouldn't remember, because _I wasn't there._ Gwen kidnapped me and hid me in her basement for weeks, remember?"

"Her house doesn't even _have_ a basement."

"And that's what scares me!"

The crowd parted as the young man reached them, people cheering loudly. Blake pushed his way through the crowd and stood out in front of the young man's path.

"Hey, nice to meet ya! I'm Blake! Wanna have a battle?"

"Er, not right now," said the young man. "But I'm Seita. That's what everyone calls me."

Blake was too busy going into shock from being denied another battle from a Gym Leader. Blake's mother stepped out and yanked him out of Seita's way, allowing him to head on into the trainer's school.

Seita let out a sigh as he shut the door and sank down to the floor. "I hate this job…" he muttered.

"Hey, welcome back, Seita!" Professor Birch said, coming around the corner to greet him. "Looks like you've got a lot of challengers today!"

"Tell me something I don't know," Seita groaned. "I don't even want to do this job. Can't I just give them all badges and make them go away?"

"You're the one who entered the Gym Leader exam," said Tsubaki. "Need something to drink, by the way?"

"Yeah, get me a beer."

"You're not even old enough to drink."

"So?" Seita said. "You drink all the time."

"Awwww, look at him!" Tsubaki gushed. "Complimenting me like that… Aw, I'm totally blushing!"

Seita ignored the blushing Tsubaki and continued his complaining. "I wasn't even the one who entered the exam. My _sister_ somehow entered me in it, and then told me about it an hour beforehand! I kind of had to go do it, since she only gave me an hour's notice and I'd feel bad if I stood the people holding the exam up like that. And, well, I hadn't expected winning against all of those people…"

"It just shows that you're a good trainer," Professor Birch said. "Getting accepted as a Gym Leader should make you happy. You know, my friend got accepted as a Gym Leader for a region he didn't even live in, and he had his entire family move there, all the way to Hoenn! Be glad that you were accepted here in Isshu."

"Well, only the Isshu region was in need of new Gym Leaders when I took the exam," Seita said. "All because of that frickin' ice…"

He buried his head in his arms and said, "I don't want to do this! I have to battle each and every one of those people out there! It'll take forever, and it'll get so repetitive that they'll all know which Pokémon I'm going to use and all of their moves and they'll all beat me so easily that the Pokémon League Association will have to fire me, and then I'll go down in history as the Gym Leader who lasted the least amount of time as a Gym Leader, and everybody'll laugh at me!"

Professor Birch gasped dramatically and snapped his fingers. "I just go an ingenious idea! Seita, I know the answer to your problems! How many people would you say are out there?"

"I don't know… twenty, maybe thirty people? A gazillion? There's probably more arriving as we speak."

"We can have ourselves a huge mini tournament!" Professor Birch said, using two words that completely contradicted each other. "That'll narrow down the trainers to the best of them, and those who reach the finals get the privilege of battling you! How's that sound?"

"That's… actually a good idea," Seita said. "I won't have to battle a million kids, and it'll make sure that _I_ get a challenge as well! Professor, you're a genius!"

"Aw, don't compliment me like that, you're totally making me blush, gawsh!"

Seita wondered why Tsubaki and Professor Birch were getting embarrassed by his compliments. God, they were weird.

* * *

"Alright, folks, there's been a bit of a change in today's gym challenge for you all!" a man wearing sunglasses announced to the large crowd gathered outside the school. "As per Seita's request, those wishing to battle him must participate in a tournament first. Those who win their tournaments will get to battle the Gym Leader!"

There were a couple of groans in response to this, but there were mostly cheers. The man directed those who still wished to battle Seita into the school, where they filled out a form and waited for the tournament to begin.

Naturally, this was only a minor roadblock for Blake. He filled out his form with such sloppy handwriting that Tsubaki made him rewrite it. The only other problem was that the tournament required him to enter two Pokémon. He begged Tsubaki to let him enter anyways, and promised that he'd go catch a Pokémon right then.

So he rushed out of Hiougi City, running as fast as he could back to Sangi Ranch, where he'd seen some interesting Pokémon earlier. He combed the grass in search of a Pokémon to use, and was tempted to get a Mareep just for Swampert, but opted not to.

Blake scoured the ranch far and wide until he found a Pokémon he liked. With a bit of trouble, he managed to catch the Pokémon, and ran back to Hiougi, injuring himself multiple times along the way.

He reached the trainer's school just in time and filled out the rest of the form, which simply asked for the second Pokémon he'd be entering. Thoroughly exhausted from all of that hard work, Blake went to go sit at one of the empty desks in the classroom.

"Have fun?" Gwen asked.

"Shut up," Blake said. Gwen kicked him under the desk. Blake suddenly sat up straight, unaware of the fact that he'd just been kicked. "Oh, yeah, are you entering, Gwennie?"

"Of course I am!" Gwen said. "Bet you're wondering who my second Pokémon is, huh? Well, I'm not going to tell you! You're gonna have to wait and find out!"

"Bitch."

"Excuse me? You wanna go back in that basement for another 6 weeks?"

"I was in there for 6 weeks?!"

"No, but I'll keep you in there for that long if you keep it up!"

Blake puffed out his cheeks in a childlike manner and leaned back in his seat. He wondered if Shizui and Raven were entering. Shizui probably wouldn't. After all, he was "too strong." Blake bet that he just didn't want to battle, and that was why he refused Blake's challenge.

But the other one, on the other hand…

"Is Raven entering?" Blake asked.

"I don't think so," Gwen answered. "Why don't you go ask her yourself?"

"She scares me. I don't think she'll answer me, either."

"You won't know until you try."

Blake stood from his seat and walked over to Raven, who stood in front of the blackboard, reading what was written on it. It was a list of status ailments that could affect your Pokémon. Blake had already memorized them from top to bottom.

"What'cha reading?" Blake asked, even though he already knew.

"T-the blackboard," Raven mumbled.

"I can see that."

"Good for you."

"So, you entering the tournament?" Blake asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't feel like it."

"You should enter."

"I don't want to."

"Where're you from?"

"Hoenn."

"What kind of Pokémon do you have?"

"A few."

"That's not really an answer. Come on, tell me two of your Pokémon. There's Magnezone and…?"

Raven sighed. "Pichu and Snorunt." Then she frowned and turned away from the board. "What's it matter to you anyways…? Is it really any of your business?"

"Nope, it's not, sorry," Blake apologized. "I'll leave you to read about those status ailments, then. Bye."

Raven didn't answer him, turning back to the blackboard in silence.

Blake hurried to grab a form and filled it out with Raven's information, changing his handwriting to something girlish, even though he didn't actually know if that's how she wrote things like. She didn't seem like the type of person who would get angry about something like this. She'd probably just mumble at the floor and go along with it.

Blake finished filling out the form and slipped it into the admission box. Ahh, nothing like a good deed. A good deed a day kept the doctor away. Yep.

* * *

Author's Notes: We also learn that Gwen has no basement, yet she kept Blake locked up in one, Tsubaki and Professor Birch get all embarrassed from compliments, and Blake caught a mysterious Pokemon. What Pokemon did he catch? Ohhh, how I wonder!

Swampert: OPPA GANGNAM STYLE.

GO AWAY, SWAMPERT, NOBODY LOVES YOU.

Swampert: :'(


	9. Chapter Eight

Author's Notes: One day, someone is going to kill Blake for the things he does.

Okay, answering Light-Sakura's question: Seita's sister is another OC of mine, but she hasn't been introduced yet. I don't even know if I'll ever introduce her. XD The entire group from the first BW Tales (Brendan, Pearl, Iris, Belle, Cheren, Touya, Touko, annnnd Danny) are stuck in the ice.

On another note, in this chapter, we find out what Pokemon Blake caught for the tournament. I suck at writing battles.

* * *

Chapter Eight

Blake had been 99.9% sure that Raven wouldn't mind his entering her into the tournament.

He was wrong.

"WHERE IS BLAKE?!" Raven screamed. Blake hurried through the school's halls to escape from her, and hid in the boy's bathroom until he heard the announcers calling his name for the next tournament battle.

Blake apparently hadn't thought that, oh, hey, Raven could just wait for him at the exit to the school's battlefield. And there she was, waiting for him. Blake stopped in his tracks, turned around, and slammed into Grey, who then grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him back around.

"Be happy, Blake," said Grey. "You officially pissed off the shy kid. Go on, face her fury like a real man."

"I, uh, I don't want to be a man anymore," Blake said. He screamed when Raven proceeded to bolt down the hall towards him. He tore free of Grey's gasped and started running, back into the classroom. Shizui stopped him, turned him around, saw the roaring Raven, and released him.

Blake dove down under the desks in the classroom, slamming into several people's feet. "I'M SO SORRY!" he shrieked in a woman's voice.

"Whoa, whoa, don't go killing him, now," Shizui said, grabbing Raven and preventing her from eating Blake alive. "Just what happened?"

"I told him I didn't want to enter the tournament! _He entered me into it!"_

Blake was sure that, at this point, Shizui was going to release her and let Raven murder him. So he started crawling across the floor, crushing more people's feet.

"You being in the tournament isn't all that bad, is it?" Shizui said. "What's the harm in it? Sure, he shouldn't have entered you without your permission, but is it really a reason to kill him?"

Blake braced himself for his upcoming death.

"I… guess not," Raven mumbled.

Blake rolled out from under the desk and leapt up from the ground. "I LOVE YOU, SHIZUI, MY MAN!" he yelled.

"Will Blake please come to the battlefield now? Will Blake please come to the battlefield now?"

"Oh, yeah, it was my turn to battle," Blake said. He ran past Raven, turned around the corner, ran down the hall, and headed outside into the sunlight.

Like Adeku's front yard, the entire backyard of the school was filled with battlefields painted onto the ground. A fence surrounded the entire yard, and a small stage was set up alongside one of the fences. In all, there were only four battlefields, but it was enough to fill most of the backyard. Only one of the fields held a single occupant. Blake assumed this field was the one he should be at and rushed over to it. Professor Birch headed on over to their field, apparently to be the referee.

"Alright. Looks like we've got Blake and Hiro up next," he said. He looked at the two boys standing on the field. "Okay, you two. Two Pokémon each, substitutions allowed, battle is over when one trainer's Pokémon are all unable to battle. Ready to start?" Blake and the boy nodded. "Then let's begin!"

"Mijumaru, go!" Blake shouted, tossing Mijumaru's Poké Ball into the air, sending her out in front of him.

"Yanappu, I choose you!" the boy, Hiro, said, sending out a tan and green monkey Pokémon that was strikingly similar to the two monkey Pokémon Blake had battled today.

It felt odd, being back in Hiougi so soon after leaving and already getting ready to face the Gym Leader whose existence he had never known of until an hour or so ago. If Adeku hadn't told them about it, he probably would have never known.

As it turned out, last year, a Gym Leader exam had been held right here in Hiougi. Seita had been one of the applicants, who passed the written exam and battle tests and had ended up as the Gym Leader of Hiougi. Probably was, he wasn't quite ready for the job, and had asked for a little time to prepare himself. He asked that no gym be officially constructed in Hiougi, and managed to get use of the school as his gym.

Of course, Blake had completely missed Seita's examination battles and such because he was busy being trapped in Gwen's basement that she didn't even have. That was really a frightening time for Blake.

Blake shook his head and decided to focus on the battle. "Use Tackle!" he said.

"Vine Whip!"

A green vine shot out from Yanappu's head, whipping through the air and down on Mijumaru, slamming her down to the ground. She pushed herself up and slammed into Yanappu with all of her might. The monkey Pokémon stopped itself from falling down and slashed a hand across Mijumaru's face.

"Water Gun!" Blake said. Mijumaru suddenly blasted Yanappu with water, quickly following it with a Tackle and knocking Yanappu out. Hiro returned Yanappu to its Poké Ball and sent out a different Pokémon.

"Mareep, I choose you!" Hiro yelled, sending out the fluffy sheep Pokémon. Unlike the one that Swampert had been in love with earlier, this one's fluffy fur crackled with electricity. Blake was only just realizing that he was pretty hungry and that the Mareep kind of reminded him of a fluffy piece of popcorn…

Oh, god. He couldn't eat a Mareep. No, bad Blake, bad!

"Water Gun!" Blake said.

"Tackle!"

Mijumaru blasted Mareep with water, but the sheep Pokémon shook it off and launched itself at Mijumaru, knocking her back and to the ground. Mijumaru rolled across the dirt before coming to a stop, completely unconscious.

Blake bit his lip as he returned Mijumaru to her Poké Ball. It really was a good idea that he'd gone to capture a second Pokémon instead of lying about it. He grabbed his second Poké Ball and sent out the Pokémon that he'd captured at the Sangi Ranch.

The Pokémon that emerged from the Poké Ball was a small, black and blue one. Its legs and chest were black, and its collar was yellow. White bumps sat on the backs of its hands. Two odd looking appendages hung from its pointy ears.

"He caught a Riolu?" Grey asked. His eyes widened a bit. But only a little bit. He was watching Blake's match from the bleachers in the yard, along with Gwen, Shizui, and a still-pissed-off Raven. He seemed vaguely surprised by Blake's Pokémon. But only vaguely surprised.

"Quick Attack!" Blake called. Riolu zoomed at Mareep with surprising speed and slammed into it. Before Mareep could get back up, Blake said, "Use Force Palm!"

Riolu pressed its palm against Mareep and a burst of energy surged forth from its palm, slamming Mareep back into the ground and knocking it out.

"The winners are Blake, Mijumaru, and Riolu!" Professor Birch announced. "Congratulations!"

* * *

"You totally lost on purpose," Blake said to Raven.

The girl just stared at him silently in response to this. She had opted to take a vow of silence around Blake, since anything she said could and would be used against her. As seen with Blake's entering her into the tournament with the two Pokémon she'd mentioned to him, Pichu and Snorunt.

Blake didn't know _how_, but somehow, she'd lost. He was pretty sure she'd done it on purpose, since she'd been ordering status-related moves the entire time for her Pokémon to use, and kept on telling her Pichu to use Thunder Wave, even though the opponent's Pokémon was already paralyzed. This seemed to be the big giveaway to Blake, at least.

"I should've entered Shizui instead…" Blake muttered, turning and walking away.

He watched Gwen and Grey's battles with interest; both of them won their matches. Blake cheered for them, regardless of the fact that Grey hit him too much and was mean and Gwen also hit him too much and liked to kidnap people.

Soon enough, it was Blake's turn again. He headed out to the field he'd been out on before, waiting for his opponent to come out. A girl with brown hair in pigtails came out of the school to stand across the field from him.

Professor Birch was the ref once again. With his signal, the battle began.

Mijumaru and the girl's Shimama, a small, zebra-like electric Pokémon, fought against each other first. Mijumaru tossed her shell at Shimama, propelling it forwards with a Water Gun, but the Shimama electrocuted Mijumaru before the shell reached it, knocking her out with the attack.

Riolu was naturally up next. "Force Palm!" Blake said. Riolu ran up to Shimama, slammed its palm against it, and blasted it with unseen energy, knocking it out from the attack.

The girl sent out a Mamepato next. The pigeon-like Pokémon swooped through the air and pecked at Riolu, who swung at it aimlessly. Finally, when Mamepato landed on the ground, Riolu was able to catch it, slamming its palm against the bird Pokémon and blasting it with energy. The bird Pokémon flew out of the field and was unconscious when it flopped to the ground.

Which left Blake as the winner again. He cheered. "Good job, Riolu!"

Riolu looked at him, sniffed, and looked away.

Yeah, Riolu didn't seem to like Blake very much. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that Riolu hated him. It might've had something to do with the fact that Blake had just caught it, so it didn't know him very well. Blake wasn't quite sure of the reason.

He tried taking Riolu's hand and walking back to the school building hand-in-hand, but Riolu snatched its hand away and walked off with its nose in the air. Blake hurried after it.

He headed to Hiougi's Pokémon Center, right next door to the school, got Mijumaru and Riolu healed, and headed back out into the sunlight. A gentle breeze blew through the empty streets. The sounds of the battles going on at the school echoed through the city. Most of the people of the city had left their homes just to go watch the tournament going on. Clearly, they had nothing else better to do.

Blake sat down on the hot pavement with Mijumaru and Riolu out of their Poké Balls. He judged that Riolu didn't hate him _that_ much; it had yet to try and run away from him. Yet. A quick check with the Pokédex revealed that Riolu was male, at level 12, and some other crap that Blake didn't care about.

"I never properly introduced myself, huh?" Blake asked. He held out his hand to Riolu. "I'm Blake. This is Mijumaru. Nice to meet you, Riolu."

Riolu sniffed and turned away. "_Rio!"_

"_Miju, Mijumaru!"_ Mijumaru shouted, stomping her tiny foot on the ground. Riolu ignored her, which only served to infuriate the otter Pokémon. She grabbed Riolu by the shoulder and spun him around. "_Mijumaru!"_

Riolu shoved her hand away. _"Riolu!"_

Mijumaru sniffed, tears popping up in her eyes. "_M-Mijumaru!"_

"Okay, okay, guys, no more fighting," Blake said, pulling the two apart. Jeez, they liked each other less than Riolu liked Blake.

Mijumaru hopped up to sit in Blake's hair, sticking out her tongue at Riolu. The little things attached to Riolu's ears twitched, and he ran up to Blake, grabbing his hand and looked up at Mijumaru with an unreadable expression. Mijumaru started growling.

Wait. Were they fighting over Blake, or was he just thinking too much of whatever it was they were doing?

With a shrug, Blake decided that Riolu must have liked him enough to hold his hand, and so he headed back to the trainer's school with a growling Mijumaru in his hair.

* * *

"Tsutarja, use Vine Whip!" Grey shouted. A vine snapped out from the leaf-like collar around Tsutarja's neck, snapping out at the Psyduck that was its opponent. Psyduck swayed to the side and fell to the ground, hands clamped around its head, eyes still wide open. Despite this, its trainer deemed that Psyduck was unable to battle, returning it to its Poké Ball and bowing to Grey.

"The winner is Grey!" Tsubaki said. "Okay, next up is Chase and Mina! Let's get going, come on, guys!"

"Hmph, this is too easy," Grey said, holding out his arm and letting Tsutarja run up it and sit on his shoulder. "It's fine, though. You and I like battles, don't we, Tsutarja?"

"Wow, Grey, talking to your Pokémon?" Blake asked. "You didn't seem like the type!"

"Shut up!" Grey snapped at him. Tsutarja glared at Blake with the same kind of venom that Blake was getting used to receiving from Pokémon, especially right before they attacked him. He put a fair amount of distance between them just in case, walking with Grey back to the bleachers.

"You know you'll never heard the end of it from me now, right?" Blake said.

"I said shut up!"

"Big brother!" a little girl cried, running past Blake and wrapping her arms around Grey's legs. Blake watched as Grey's expression softened, and he picked up the little girl and carried her the rest of the way to the bleachers.

"Hey, White," Grey said. "Thanks for the map earlier. It'll be a great help for me."

"You left without saying goodbye!" White said, puffing out her cheeks angrily. "Don't make me take back that map, young man!"

Blake snorted and clapped a hand over his mouth, trying desperately not to outright hysterically laugh. "T-that's right, young man," he stammered, and then burst into laughter. "AHAHAH! A LITTLE GIRL JUST CALLED YOU YOUNG MAN!"

Grey whispered something to his sister, who climbed out of his arms, ran over to Blake, and tapped his hand. "Don't cry, little boy," she said. "It's okay."

"Little boy?" Blake gasped and took off running. "I AM A YOUNG 15-YEAR-OLD! I AM NOT A LITTLE BOY, DAMMIT!"

Grey just grinned and patted his little sister's head. "Atta girl," he said.

* * *

As Grey and Blake both soon found out, however, the battles only got harder the further they went on. Blake was honestly surprised that he, Mijumaru, and Riolu made it as far as they did. After a victory won purely by luck, the next battle proved to be their downfall.

"Come on, Riolu!" Blake called to the weakening Pokémon. Their opponent, a Fushide, had used Toxic to poison Riolu, and the poison was quickly taking its effect on Riolu. Riolu wouldn't last much longer, and Mijumaru was also poisoned.

He knew that both of them were suffering right now. And he hated that just as much as they did. And to faint from poison sounded like it sucked really bad. Which left him to either somehow win the match – unlikely – or just admit defeat. The second option was an absolute no-go. No way in hell.

Okay, maybe he'd have to, if he couldn't wrap up the battle with Fushide soon.

"Quick Attack!"

"Poison Sting!"

Riolu's blurred body zoomed towards the bug Pokémon, who shot out a single barb at Riolu. The barb caught Riolu in the arm, zipping out of the other side, leaving Riolu to skid to a stop and hold its arm in pain.

That was it. Blake couldn't watch it any more. As much as it killed him to, he had to do it.

"I give up!" he yelled. His opponent looked at him in surprise. So did Professor Birch. Blake didn't even have to glance at the bleachers to tell that Gwen had probably just stood up from her seat and was probably shouting profanities at him this very moment.

"You sure?" Professor Birch asked.

"Yeah. My Pokémon… they're poisoned."

Blake didn't know if Professor Birch understood his problem, but the professor nodded. "Right. Victory goes to Noel!"

Blake returned Riolu to his Poké Ball and rushed to the Pokémon Center. It took quite a while of him impatiently waiting, but soon enough, the pink-haired nurse and a Tabunne came back to him with his Pokémon both fully healed. He thanked the nurse and ran out of the Pokémon Center, where Grey, Gwen, Shizui, Raven, Blake's mom, and Grey's little sister waited for him.

"Are you stupid?" Gwen snapped.

"Sorry," Blake said. "I just didn't want to see either of them… you know, faint from the poison. I mean, that would suck like hell, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, but then you just shit the poison out!" Gwen said. "No problemo!"

Grey clapped his hands over his sister's ears as Gwen said that. "_Gwen!"_

"Just sayin'," Gwen responded.

"But criticizing Blake wouldn't be very fair," said Shizui. "He did it for the well-being of his Pokémon. I admire you, Blake, for–"

"Aw, gawsh, you're making me blush, stop it! STOP IT, YOU!"

Raven wondered why the hell Blake was so weird. Well. Swampert was worse, but…

"Guys, we've got ourselves a problem!"

Everyone turned around to find Professor Birch running towards them, clad in his usual outfits of shorts, sandals, and a lab coat.

"Your fashion sense is impeccable," Blake said in an elderly man's voice.

"We've got a problem," Professor Birch said. "You haven't happened to see Seita around anywhere, have you?"

"Uh, no."

"Darn! I should've _known_ he'd do this…"

"What happened?" Grey asked.

"Seita's nowhere in the school building," Professor Birch said. "He probably ran off to avoid the battles, I'm betting. We _told_ him to stay put and not to go anywhere unless he told someone first. But now that the final matches are almost here and we need him to get ready, he's gone."

"Sounds like he ran away," Blake said.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Grey said.

"Hey, wait, that makes me your captain now." A malicious grin spread across Blake's face. "As your captain, I order you to–"

"We're captains, too," Grey quickly said. "In fact, all of us are captains. A captain can't order another captain around."

"Says who?"

"Says me, the Captain Captain. I'm the captain of captains."

Blake gasped. "The CAPTAIN, you mean?"

"Yes, the–" Grey stopped. Good Arceus, Blake almost had Grey's brain in his awful grasp. That could've ended badly if he'd continued.

Grey shook his head and coughed into his hand. Noticing that everyone was staring at him, Grey quickly said, "Let's search for Seita."

* * *

Author's Notes: Grey's being infected by everyone's stupidity.

Blake lost the tournament. Bet you thought he was going to win, didn't you? Hohoho.

Swampert: ...

You're silent, Swampert.

Swampert: ...GrumblegrumbleMareepgrumble...

No one cares. See you next chapter!


	10. Chapter Nine: VS Seita!

Author's Notes: Um, uh, gym battle, um, kittens, um *explodes from excitement*

The English games are finally out! But I have no money to buy them, so... yeah...

Swampert: Suck on those lemons.

Gonna go kill the imaginary Swampert I'm talking to, bye.

* * *

Chapter Nine

Blake opened the lid to a trash can and peered inside. "Seita, you in there? No? Okay, bye-bye." He closed the lid and walked out from behind the back of Gwen's house. He had to personally check her trash cans, just in case. What if he'd found Seita in one of them? No… worse, what if he found Seita in all _three_ of them?!

The mere thought gave Blake goosebumps.

Most of the people back at the school were completely unaware that the Gym Leader was missing. The only ones searching for him were Professor Birch, Tsubaki, Blake, Gwen, Grey, Shizui, Raven, Blake's mom, and Grey's little sister. Nine people searching for one person. Seemed good enough.

Except Seita really seemed to be nowhere around.

Blake ran up the stairs to the lookout point and sighed, leaning over the railing and staring out at the green trees, the flowing grass, the blue lake–

…There was somebody by the lake.

"SEITA!" Blake screamed. The person by the lake looked up in surprise and took off running. "DON'T YOU RUN, YOU CHICKEN! I'M GONNA GET YOU–"

Grey kicked Blake over the railing. Luckily for Blake, the trees below were there to break his fall. Unluckily for him, he disturbed the nest of a family of Mamepato and Kenhorou.

A very injured Blake came stumbling back through the gatehouse that separated the route from Hiougi City. He was greeted by Gwen and Grey.

"I hope you're happy," said Grey. "We lost him."

"Oh, shit. Gwen, I thought we agreed not to kill Gym Leaders."

"No one killed him! We lost him! And what the heck happened to you?"

Blake shrugged. "Oh, you know, the usual. Pissing off wild Pokémon, getting my ass beat and so on…"

"Sounds busy," Gwen said.

"You know what?" Blake said. "Screw you. I'm a frickin' anteater."

"And that makes no sense," Gwen said.

"Yeah, I think that Kenhorou pecked something important."

Blake noticed that Shizui was running up to the three of them. "We finally found Seita!" Shizui said. "He's back at the lookout."

"Oh, come _on!"_ Blake said. Gwen and Grey covered his mouth and dragged him to the stairs going up to the lookout. They quietly headed up the stairs, meeting up with Raven, who was standing there and watching the four of them, and heading the rest of the way up to the lookout.

They essentially had Seita cornered.

The brown-haired male let out a sigh, sounding like he had the fate of the universe resting on his shoulders.

"HAH!" Blake shouted. Everyone jumped in surprise. Seita screamed and started climbing over the railing, only to have Shizui grab him and yank him back into the clearing.

"Don't kill yourself, man!" Blake shouted, diving down at the already-rescued Seita and wrapping his arms around him. "You're too young to die! I almost died the same way, except it started with me getting a foot up the ass, and I think I won't be able to shi–"

"I'M A TERRIBLE GYM LEADER!" Seita screamed. He grabbed fistfuls of his hair and curled into a ball. Blake released him and scooted all the way across the clearing, hands in the air, as if to clear himself of a potential crime. They all watched as Seita started sobbing.

Well. This was getting uncomfortable.

"Um." Blake slowly started inching himself over the railing. "I'm just gonna, um. You know. Um. Die. Bye."

He tried releasing the railing and falling to his death, but Shizui grabbed him and hoisted him back up into the clearing. Shizui proceeded to head on over to Seita, bending down next to him and patting his shoulder.

"You're not a terrible Gym Leader," said Shizui. "You've just started. How can you possibly tell that you're a terrible Gym Leader?"

"Because I never wanted this job to begin with and I put off Gym Leader duties for an entire year, and did you know that people just had to take tests here to get their first badge while I was gone?"

"I heard. But it was excusable. You needed some time to prepare yourself–"

"I can't even beat my own sister in a battle, so what makes them think that I can be a Gym Leader?!"

"Hey, you passed the exams fair and square, didn't you?" Shizui said. "And battles aren't all about strength. Luck plays an important factor as well, and so does–"

"My sister beat me with a Magikarp!"

"Okay, _how_ is that possible?" Blake interrupted. Grey elbowed him in the side. It wasn't very effective…

"But like I said, strength isn't everything," Shizui said. "So chin up and stop being down. You ran away because you were afraid of losing, didn't you?"

Slowly, Seita nodded.

Blake suddenly gasped like a woman. Grey just stared at him. "I've got an idea!" Blake squealed. "Seita, you and I should battle!"

"Hey, you lost your tournament," Grey said.

"Bah, who cares? Match smatch! If he can't beat me, he can't beat all of the people back there!"

"You're aren't helping his self-esteem, Blake."

Seita slowly stood up, eyeing Blake warily, as if he was possibly joking about his request. "Really?" he hesitantly asked. "You'd battle a loser like me?"

"You're not a loser!" Blake said. "Jeez, how many times do we have to tell you that?" Blake took out Mijumaru's Poké Ball, holding it tightly in his hand. "Ready to battle?"

A big grin spread across Seita's face. "You're on! Minezumi, I choose you!"

"Go, Mijumaru!"

And the battle was on. Mijumaru quickly blasted Minezumi with water, who retaliated by tackling Mijumaru to the ground. The two grappled, Mijumaru frantically beating Minezumi upside the head until it got off her, and then Mijumaru stood up and started screaming in her favorite language of Mijumaru. Minezumi recoiled in fear, only to have Mijumaru begin chasing it around the lookout clearing, armed with her shell.

"Come on, Minezumi, you can do it!" Seita called. "Tackle, use Tackle!"

"Stop chasing Minezumi with your shell and use Water Gun! Water Gun, I say! Waaaaatttterrr Guuuuuunn!"

"It's so nice you have to say it twice," Seita said.

"But I said it thrice."

"Damn it, this is why I suck…!"

Minezumi stopped running from Mijumaru, skidding around and leaping at Mijumaru. The two slammed into each other. Mijumaru blasted Minezumi away with water as a last resort, but both Pokémon fell unconscious on their backs.

The two returned their Pokémon and sent out their next ones simultaneously; Seita sent out a small, brown puppy Pokémon and Blake sent out Riolu.

"Force Palm!" Blake said.

"Use Bite!" Seita shouted.

The puppy Pokémon latched down on Riolu's tail, biting down hard. Riolu swung it around, reaching out and pressing a palm against the puppy's side. He blasted it away, sending the puppy flying through the air and over the railing. Riolu frantically ran after it, hopping up on the railing and grabbed the Pokémon's tail before it fell down into the trees below.

Riolu gently set the unconscious Pokémon on the ground before looking at Blake expectantly.

"Ohhh, man," Seita groaned, falling to his knees next to the Pokémon. "See? I suck. Go ahead, admit it, I suck."

Jeez, what was one supposed to do when the person in question was hopelessly depressed and immune to positive comments?

"Shizui, we need your motivational speaking powers," Blake said.

Shizui spread his arms wide. "What is life?" he asked.

"42," Blake quickly said. Grey wrapped his hands around Blake's neck and started shaking him around.

"No, that was the wrong thing to start with," Shizui said. "Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know what you're gonna get."

Everyone stared at him.

"No, that was wrong, too," Shizui said. "Let's see… Seita, you… You're like the ocean waves, coming up onto the shore. You don't know just how great you'll be until you're up there on the shore. If you're really great, you'll drown a whole city."

"That's a little…" Gwen began.

"Morbid," Grey finished.

"That was also wrong," Shizui said. "Jeez, my brain just doesn't seem to be working correctly today. Seita, you don't suck. I don't know why you think you suck, but you don't. You're a great trainer, I could tell that from your match just now. You believed in your Pokémon, and they believed in you. And that's the secret; believe in yourself, believe in your Pokémon."

Shizui looked up hopefully at the other four. "Was that good?!"

Blake started to clap, tears running down his cheeks. "HOW MOVING."

Gwen nodded, a single tear running down her cheek. "He's right, Seita! Stop moping around here when you can be out there, showing everyone how awesomely strong you are!"

"Even then you lost to a Magik–" Blake began, but received a look from Grey and fell silent. "Ahem. Never mind."

Seita looked around at them all. He stood up from the ground, eagerness in his eyes. "You're right!" he said. "I believe in my Pokémon and, well, I think they believe in me! I can only get stronger from here on out! Blake, thanks for battling me, I'll get you a badge later on! Right now, though…"

Seita took off running down the stairs. "I've got a tournament to participate in!"

"You forgot your Yorterrie!" Gwen called.

"SHIT!"

* * *

Only two of the finalists managed to get badges from Seita. Grey and some other girl that Blake didn't care about, nor had he ever seen. And also, Blake. Seita gave the three their badges in front of the crowd gathered there, and many people were confused as to why Blake was getting a badge when they'd never even seen him battle Seita, but no one openly objected to it.

Swampert came out of nowhere and slammed into Blake, knocking him to the ground and quite possibly breaking every bone in his body. Swampert moved on to Grey, who was already running across the schoolyard to escape from him.

"From here on out," Seita said, "I'll be accepting individual challenges! Thank you all for participating in today's tournament, sponsored by Professor Birch and Tsubaki! Give a big shoutout to them! Oh, and to Shizui, too! Let's battle sometime, okay?!"

"DON'T RUN FROM ME, YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT!" Swampert screamed.

"I DON'T WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU! STAY AWAY, YOU LUMP OF WHATEVER!"

"BUT I LOVE YOU, GREY!"

"YOU DO _NOT!"_

"GIVE ME A BIG HUG AND KISS AND I'LL STOP!

"_NO!"_

"Don't you think you should return Swampert to his Poké Ball?" Shizui asked Raven.

"Nope," Raven said.

Swampert slammed into Grey and knocked him to the ground.

* * *

"Use Ember, Pokabu!" Gwen yelled. The pig Pokémon snorted out several flames at Yorterrie, singeing its fur badly. While the puppy Pokémon winced in pain, Pokabu charged at it and slammed into Yorterrie, sending it sprawling across the ground in defeat.

"Good job!" Seita said, returning Yorterrie and giving Gwen a thumbs-up. "You've got yourself the Basic Badge!"

Seita reached into his pants pocket, producing a small, rectangular piece of metal. It was purple in color, with gold lining it. It looked a bit like the spine of a book, at least to Gwen. Gwen took out the badge case her mother had given her and placed the badge in the first indentation in the case.

A battle was so much better than a silly exam, in Gwen's opinion.

Gwen hugged Pokabu tightly as she thanked Seita for the battle. Still hugging Pokabu, she said, "Oh, yeah, Tsubaki mentioned something interesting last night. She said that your sister entered you in as a Gym Leader? The same sister who beat you with a Magikarp?"

Seita's cheeks turned pink. "W-what? Why'd she have to mention that?"

"Duh, 'cause we were talking about you last night." This only served to make Seita's cheeks turn red. "She said you didn't really want to be a Gym Leader and your sister entered you and gave you an hour's notice about it. How'd that happen, anyways?"

Seita shrugged. "She signed me up for it, just like Tsubaki said," he said. "I don't even know _how_ she did it, since she doesn't even live here in Isshu." He puffed out his cheeks and stared at the ground. "She's the one who should be a Gym Leader, beating people with a Magikarp and all."

Shaking his head, Seita decided to change the subject. "So, are you and your friends traveling or something? Tachiwaki City's the next place with a gym."

Gwen nodded. "We know. We're heading there today! Just had to get myself a badge. Thanks for the battle again, Seita! See ya soon!"

"Yeah, probably!" Seita said back.

Gwen hurried to the Pokémon Center, got her Pokémon, Pokabu and a Mamepato, healed, and hurried to meet Blake, Shizui, and Raven at the exit to the city.

"Did Grey already leave?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah. Said he didn't want to hear any sappy goodbyes. Already got one from Swampert." Blake jabbed his thumb at Swampert, who stood in a corner and sobbed dramatically.

Right then, to Gwen, it felt like their journey was finally, truly beginning. She, Blake, and Grey all had their very first badges, and now they really were getting ready to travel to the next city to get their next badge.

"Then what're we waiting for?!" Gwen asked. "To Tachiwaki City and the second gym!"

"YEAH!"

And the five of them set off.

* * *

Author's Notes: Incidentally, I don't think I ever mentioned the English name for Tachiwaki: Virbank. Mamepato's English name is Pidove, Kenhorou is, uhhh, the evolved form of that (god, I can't remember its name), and Seita's sister defeated him with a Magikarp.

Oh, and Shizui's advice giving skills vary based on the weather and location. No, don't ask what that means. I have no idea myself.


	11. Chapter Ten

Author's Notes: This chapter was fun to write, mainly because we get a snappy Raven again.

Homika's English name is Roxie. Derpity derp.

* * *

Chapter Ten

"Tachiwaki City. A port city. Motto: Tachiwaki is rising steam. Whatever the heck that means."

"Swampert, stop laying there and hurry up!" Gwen called.

Swampert pushed himself up from the black pavement he'd been laying on and hurried after Gwen, who'd been the only one who bothered to wait for him while he laid around and examined the city like an art critic. They headed into the red-roofed Pokémon Center, where Blake and Raven were busy handing their Pokémon to the nurse to get healed.

"Let's go get something to eat!" Blake said. "I'm staaarrrrrvvvving."

Also included for all trainers at a Pokémon Center was free usage of the cafeteria, and the ability to eat however much you wanted. There were plenty of seats in the cafeteria, small tables, large tables, booths by the windows…

There was just one _slight_ problem.

"Urgh, what's wrong with this foooood?" Blake asked, letting the bite of his sandwich that he'd taken fall out off his tongue and plop down onto his plate.

"That was disgusting," said Gwen. "What you just did was disgusting. No one needed to see your chewed up food plop out of your mouth."

"Fine," Blake said, and ate what he'd just dropped out of his mouth. Gwen groaned loudly, Shizui tried focusing on his own food, and Raven just stared at Blake in silence. Swampert decided to try and do what Blake had just done, but Raven wisely returned him to his Poké Ball before he got a chance.

"Hey, Raven, where in Hoenn are you from?" Blake asked, leaning across the table towards her. Raven stared at him and quickly shrank back into her seat, apparently unwillingly to answer his question. Blake tried asking again, but Gwen stomped on his foot. It had no effect.

"Where in Hoenn are you from, huh?" Blake asked. "Is it nice where you're from? Or does it suck so much that that's why you decided to come help out Professor Birch? Hey, wait, I think the professor mentioned that you were from some place called Littleroot? That's where he's from, right? Were you guys neighbors? What was it like, living next door to–"

"Mega Punch!" Gwen shouted, slamming her fist into the side of Blake's head and knocking him out of his seat. It wasn't very effective…

Blake stood up from the floor as a pink and cream-colored Pokémon with exceptionally large ears came walking towards them, holding a tray with three Poké Balls sitting in it. It handed two of the red and white balls to Blake, the third to Raven. It bowed and walked away without a single word.

"Alright!" Blake said. "Time to challenge the Tachiwaki Gym! Hey, Raven, maybe you should challenge it, too!"

"I don't want to," Raven mumbled.

"Why not? You can enter the Isshu League and everything! Come on, do it! Do it, do it, do it!"

"I don't want to," Raven repeated, even quieter this time. She clutched her Poké Ball tightly in her hands and seemed to shrink back even more into her seat. Even so, Blake continued chanting, "Do it," to her.

"_Mega Kick!" _Gwen shouted, slamming her foot into Blake's side and sending him rolling across the cafeteria floor. It wasn't very effective… "Come on, now, let's go to the gym! Shizui, do you know what type of Pokémon the Gym Leader trains?"

Shizui seemed to think. "Poison-type Pokémon, I think. I might be wrong, though. It wouldn't hurt to stock up on antidotes just in case."

"Alrighty! Raven, let's go get some medicine." Gwen took Raven's arm and pulled her up from her seat, leaving the cafeteria with her and heading to the small store that was inside the Pokémon Center.

"She's going to kill me one day," Blake said, sitting up and rubbing his side.

"Well, you've survived your entire life so far, so I'm sure you'll be okay," Shizui said. "In any case, are you and your Pokémon ready to challenge the gym?"

Blake thought about it for a moment. Maybe he should give Mijumaru and Riolu some kind of pep talk first. So he sent out his two Pokémon and began to talk to them.

"Alright, guppies, we're challenging the Tachiwaki City Gym today!" Blake announced. "The Gym Leader supposedly trains poison-type Pokémon, so we need to be prepared for the worst! That's why Gwen and Raven are getting some medicine for us to use, so it shouldn't be a problem. Understand, my beautiful guppies?"

The two Pokémon eagerly nodded, but Blake could see that both of them were nervous. Had they been nervous yesterday, too, and he just hadn't noticed it? Maybe they'd been nervous the entire time they were with him. Maybe…

Maybe he was a sucky trainer.

"Maybe we shouldn't challenge the Gym Leader today," Blake said with a sigh, flopping back into his chair. Shizui looked at him in surprise.

"What makes you say that?"

"I think my Pokémon are afraid of me," Blake said.

"Oh, no," Shizui said. "You've caught a case of Seitaitis."

"What?" Blake asked.

"It's a temporary disease where you think you're a bad trainer and you get depressed. You catch it from being around Seita."

"What's the cure for it?"

Mijumaru threw her shell at Blake's head. Blake, after a very long pause, said, "Ow."

"_Miju, Mijumaru!"_ Mijumaru yelled. She stomped her foot on the ground. "_Mijumaru!"_

"I think she's trying to encourage you," Shizui suggested.

"You aren't afraid of me?" Blake hopefully asked Mijumaru.

Mijumaru shook her head. "_Miju!"_

Riolu nodded in agreement. _"Riolu!"_

"You… you guys…" Blake burst into tears and dropped to his knees. He scooped them up into a hug. "You guys are the greatest Pokémon I've ever haaddd!" he cried. "I'LL NEVER EAT YOU FOR BREAKFAST, NOT EVEN AS A LAST RESORT!"

Shizui just decided to pretend that he hadn't heard that last part.

* * *

"TACHIWAKI GYM, WHERE ARE YOOOUUUUU?!"

Blake was clearly having trouble finding the gym, which in reality was right behind him. A flickering purple light held the Pokémon gym symbol. But the building itself was tiny, certainly not large enough to hold a gym in it.

Gwen opened the door to the small building just a bit and peered inside. "Oh, it goes downstairs," she said. "Let's go, guys."

Blake gasped dramatically. "You found the gym?!"

Gwen ignored Blake, heading downstairs with Shizui and Raven following after her. Their footsteps clanged loudly against the metal stairs. Blake let the door shut behind him, darkening the stairway considerably.

The narrow stairway was illuminated by flickering lights up on the ceiling. Close spaces tended to make Blake feel uncomfortable, but he would manage. He reached the end of the steps and turned around a corner, finding Gwen, Shizui, and Raven already ahead of him.

A man wearing sunglasses guarded two large doors at the end of the hall. At the sight of the four approached, he waved at them. "Hey, welcome to the Tachiwaki Gym!" he said. "The Gym Leader's doing a performance right now, but you're welcome to challenge her anyways!"

"A performance?" Blake asked. "What kind of performance?"

"Don't you know? She's the lead singer and bassist of the band The Koffing!"

"Is it really okay for us to interrupt her performance?" Gwen asked.

"Of course, she won't mind! Usually."

That last part made Blake have second thoughts about doing this. But it didn't seem to bother Gwen, who opened up the steel doors, leading into a large room filled with people. Standing up on a stage at the end of the room was a girl with short, white hair, dressed in a light blue and purple striped dress and black boots. She played a bass that vaguely reminded Blake of a certain Pokémon and sang into a microphone in front of her.

"Now, who's ready to rock?!" the girl shouted into the microphone.

"Homika, Homika, Homika!" the crowd cheered.

"This is insane," Raven mumbled.

"I think I'll come back later after all," said Blake, spinning around and opening up the doors once again.

"Hey, are you kids challengers?" a man with spiky yellow hair asked them. "Hey, someone tell Homika she's got challengers!"

"What, those kids crazy? Don't they know they can't beat Homika?"

"Yes, we're crazy, let's just leave," Blake said. Gwen pulled him away from the doors and started making her way through the crowd with him in tow.

"Wow, this place is crowded. And loud," Shizui said from where he remained by the doors. It was the safest place to be at the moment, and he had a semi-clear view of the stage. So it was okay with him. "Don't you think so, Raven?" Receiving no response, he looked around in confusion.. "Huh? Raven? Where'd you go?"

Raven was busy getting caught up in the crowd and being pushed closer and closer to the stage. Sadly, no one seemed to notice the short girl much until she collapsed at the very front of the crowd, right in front of the stage. Everyone stared down at her.

"It's a challenger!" someone shouted.

"Homika's got herself a challenger! This is great!"

The white-haired girl, apparently named Homika, stopped singing and playing her bass. "Ehh, we've got ourselves a little kid as a challenger? Sure you wanna do that, kid?"

Raven glared up at the girl, who really couldn't have been much bigger than she was. "That's funny, coming from someone who's _smaller_ than me."

People gasped and others cheered louder. At the comment about her height, Homika quickly and suddenly became enraged.

"What was that, you little brat?! I'm not smaller than you!"

"What, do you use your boots to make you taller? Sure seems like it."

"I do _not!"_ Homika screamed. "What the hell do you know? What're you, like, eleven or something?"

"No! What're you, like, nine?"

Homika's face turned red, probably more from anger than embarrassment. "I'm not nine! I'm fifteen!"

"You're a liar and you know it!" Raven shouted. "You can't be the same age as me!"

"Like hell you're fifteen!" Homika yelled.

"Like hell _you're_ fifteen!" Raven yelled back.

"Oh, god, what's going on?" Blake asked. He struggled to look through the crowds of people, but to no avail.

"That's Raven's voice, isn't it?" Gwen asked. "How'd she reach the Gym Leader so fast?"

"Why is she even yelling at someone?"

"Age doesn't matter if you can't beat me!" Homika said.

"Oh, please." Raven snorted. "The whole reason I decided not to battle you is _because_ I was going to beat you!"

The guitarist and drummer that had been playing alongside Homika smirked at each other. "Sounds like the little kid's challenging Homika," the woman guitarist said.

"But you think she can even get past us?"

The woman nudged Homika in the back. "Homika, how 'bout you let us take care of this kid? If she can beat us, she'll get to battle you. How's that sound?"

Homika smirked, turning back to Raven. "How about it, brat? If you beat Roo and Cook, you'll get to battle me."

"Fine," Raven said. "This'll be easy."

"Don't get so ahead of yourself, kid," the woman said. "Fushide, go!"

"Magnezone, go!"

The two Pokémon emerged from their Poké Balls; a larva-like Pokémon whose top half was magenta and bottom half was green, and Raven's Magnezone. People backed up from the stage to give them room to battle, but the woman and Raven could've cared less about their presence there.

"Use Thunderbolt!" Raven said.

"Poison Sting!"

Magnezone moved much faster than Fushide did, charging electricity between its magnets and sending a large bolt flying at Fushide. The bug Pokémon didn't stand a chance; the attack knocked it back into a wall, where it slumped down to the floor, unable to battle.

"The hell?" the woman cried out. She quickly returned Fushide to its Poké Ball and sent out a different Pokémon. It was purple, slightly circularly shaped, with eyes and a grinning mouth. A white crossbone was painted beneath its grinning mouth. Craters were indented around its body. "Let's see how you deal with Koffing, then! Poison Gas!"

"Thunderbolt, again!"

Much like Fushide, Koffing was sent flying back into the wall, knocked unconscious from the single attack. The woman returned Koffing, looking a bit bothered by that record battle loss. She turned to the man.

"You're up, Cook. Maybe you'll have a better time with the kid than I did."

The bald man who played the drums stepped out from behind them, taking the woman's place on the stage. "You're pretty good, beating Roo that fast," he said. "But let's see how you deal with this!" He tossed a Poké Ball into the air, letting out a purple, sludge Pokémon that had eyes and a mouth. Vague arms could be seen in its body. "You'll be battling my Grimer!"

"Return, Magnezone!" Raven said, holding out Magnezone's Poké Ball and returning it to it. She sent out another Pokémon. "Snorunt, go! Use Ice Shard!"

A short, black and yellow Pokémon emerged from the Poké Ball. Fingerless hands kept the triangular yellow and orange cloak-like part of it around its body, but the rest of its body was black. At the move command, several shards of ice appeared around its body and shot through the air at Grimer, who melted down into a puddle on the floor to avoid it.

"Sludge!" Cook yelled.

Grimer moved back up, spitting out a glob of sludge at Snorunt. The sludge slammed against Snorunt's body, coating it in the foul-smelling substance. Snorunt shook off the sludge, though chunks of it still clung to its body.

"Headbutt, followed by Ice Fang!"

"Mud Bomb, and follow it with Venom Shock!"

Snorunt slammed into Grimer with its head before chomping down on Grimer's body. Grimer blasted Snorunt with a ball of mud, but Snorunt refused to loosen its grip on Grimer's body. Grimer struggled to attack again, but with Snorunt refusing to loosen its grip on its body and covering its entire body in ice, it soon flopped down to the floor unconscious.

Cook returned Grimer to its Poké Ball and sent out a Koffing, much like the woman had done. "Koffing, use–"

"Ice Beam!" Raven interrupted. Snorunt blasted Koffing with a light blue beam of crackling ice. The ice completely covered Koffing, essentially turning it into an ice cube. Koffing dropped out of the air and crashed onto the stage, nearly breaking it in the process.

The crowd's cheering became deafening. "The kid beat them both?" "No way! It's gotta be a fluke!" "That means she's gonna fight Homika next!"

Homika watched the battles go on with an ever-growing grin on her face. When Cook's Koffing went down, she flipped her bass around her shoulders, most likely to get it out of her way.

"You're stronger than I thought, brat," Homika said. "You beat Roo and Cook in less than five minutes."

"I told you," Raven said, "I'm stronger than you are. We don't even need to battle."

"Oh? Are you just afraid that you Pokémon'll end up losing?"

"My god, you don't listen to _anything_ I say, do you?" Raven let out a sigh. "Fine. If it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get."

* * *

Author's Notes: Incidentally, I believe Roo's name should have been written out as Lou, but I was too lazy to change it. So she'll be Roo. I don't remember Homika's band members' names in English, but I'm sure you know who they are.

Next up: the battle between Homika and Raven! Who will win this battle of short heights?! Stay tuned to find out!

Swampert: Brought to you with limited commercial interruption by-

I thought I killed you. Huh, I just don't kill things like normal anymore.


	12. Chapter Eleven: VS Homika!

Author's Notes: ENGLISH NAME TIME! Dustdas's English name is Garbodor (don't know if I spelled that right...) Hoiiga's English name is... uh... Whirlipede.

And I still don't have either of the games yet... I wish I had money... I'M SO SAD.

Swampert: Don't be sad, get glad.

I will put you in a pot with chicken broth and soak you in it so your meat will be tender and-

Swampert: I don't go well with chicken broth.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

"Go! Koffing!"

"Piplup, I choose you!"

The two girls sent out their Pokémon simultaneously, Homika going with a Koffing, just like her band members had, and Raven going with a tiny, blue and white penguin Pokémon.

"Use Drill Peck, Piplup!" Raven said.

"Tackle, Koffing!"

Koffing zipped forwards, flying through the air and crashing into Piplup, forcing it to stumble back. Piplup regained its balance and launched itself at Koffing, spinning through the air and striking it with its beak. Koffing slammed down to the floor and was unconscious.

"Okay, seriously, what am I doing out here?" Piplup asked in a distinctively male voice.

The crowd's cheering increased. "Whoa, it's a talking Pokémon!"

"You're in a gym battle," Raven said.

"I didn't know you wanted to do the gym challenges!"

"I don't. The psychotic munchkin in front of you wanted to battle."

Piplup turned to look at Homika. "Um. You two are like the same size, you know."

"We are _not!"_ Homika and Raven shouted. They turned to glare at each other.

"Beginner's luck," Homika said, returning Koffing to its Poké Ball. "Let's see how you face this one! Hoiiga, go!" she yelled. She sent out her second Pokémon, a light purple and black one that seemed to be rolled up into a ball. Purple spikes protruded from its body. From the hole in its curled up body, a yellow eye glared at Raven and Piplup.

"Whirlpool!" Raven shouted.

"Uh, hello? We're inside a freaking building!"

"Like that's ever stopped you! Whirlpool, Whirlpool, Whirlpool!"

"And all I hear is this squeaky voice ordering me around," Piplup said. "How odd. Hmm."

"Venom Shock!" Homika yelled. Hoiiga's spikes quickly sprayed a purple liquid at Piplup, drenching the penguin Pokémon in it. The liquid burned at Piplup's body, but Piplup quickly shook the burning liquid off of himself.

"WHIRLPOOL!" Raven shouted.

"Arceus, I heard you the first time!" Piplup snapped. Turning his head up to the ceiling, Piplup started to spin around, releasing a stream of water into the air. The water began to spin with his movements, quickly forming a small whirlpool. Piplup stopped spinning and swung his head, sending the whirlpool crashing down on Hoiiga.

"Dig!" Raven shouted.

"We're _indoors!"_ Piplup yelled.

"Drill Peck!"

Piplup sighed. What the hell was wrong with his trainer? He kicked off the ground, spinning through the air and slamming into Hoiiga with his beak. The Pokémon rolled across the floor and fell to its side. It didn't get back up.

"How's that, Homika?" Raven said. "Told you battling me was a bad idea."

"Hmph." Homika glared at Raven as she returned Hoiiga to its Poké Ball. "You knocked out two of my Pokémon already. But let's see how you deal with the third! Dustdas, go!" She tossed a third Poké Ball into the air, sending out a large, lumpy Pokémon that almost seemed to resemble a torn garbage bag with the contents spilling out. Two bending pipes served as its arms, the right arm having three spout-like things on it. Razor sharp teeth poked out of its mouth.

"Oh, _shit,"_ Piplup said. "The hell is that thing?!"

"Doubleslap!" Homika said. Dustdas moved towards Piplup with surprising speed, arms lashing out towards him and striking his body repeatedly, knocking Piplup back and forth several times. Piplup stumbled backwards, rubbing at his body where Dustdas had struck him. Homika shouted another command for Dustdas: "Sludge!"

While Piplup was still rubbing his body, Dustdas aimed its right arm at Piplup and shot out a glob of sludge at him. The sludge struck him with enough force to knock him to the ground, covering his face completely. Piplup gagged, pushing himself up and stumbling backwards, frantically trying to get the sludge off his face.

"Your Dustdas or whatever," Raven said, "it's stronger than your other Pokémon, isn't it?"

"Of course! I don't use Dustdas unless my challengers are strong enough to handle it."

"So you admit I'm stronger than you thought?"

"_No!_ I just wanted to show you what defeat tastes like, you brat!"

"That's funny, coming from a nine year old"

"I told you, I'm not nine! You're, like, eight!"

"You're seven!"

"Six!"

"FIVE!"

"FOUR!"

"_THREE!"_

"_TWO!"_

"_ONE!"_

"ZEEEEEERRRRROOOOOOOOO!"

"Whoa, you two," Piplup said, finally removing the sludge from his face. "Like, wow. You're getting way out of hand."

"You!" Homika shouted, jabbing her finger at Raven. "Are a zero year old child!"

"You're insane, I can't be that young!"

"You look it!"

"I have hair! I can walk!"

"I haven't _seen_ you walk!"

Raven walked right up onto the stage. Homika and Raven glared at each other for a moment, until Homika removed her bass and leapt at Raven. The two instantly got into a fight, rolling around on the stage, screaming and biting each other.

"Oh, my god," Piplup said. "What the… why are they… Someone, stop them!"

Sadly, everyone in the crowd was cheering them on. Including Blake and Gwen.

"We don't need Pokémon to settle this argument!" Homika screamed.

"Get your midget ass off of me!"

"You're tinier than I am!"

"I am not! You are!"

"Whoa, I've never seen Homika lose it like this…" Cook muttered.

"Yeah. She even went ahead and removed her bass beforehand…"

"HOMIKA, HOMIKA, HOMIKA!"

"NEW KID, NEW KID, NEW KID!"

Piplup turned to look up at Dustdas. "What should we do?" he asked. Dustdas shrugged.

Someone walked past Piplup, stepped up onto the stage, and pulled the two girls apart. They hissed and tried kicking each other, but were being conveniently held out of reach by Shizui, the only one with enough sense to break their fight apart.

"Quit your fighting, you two," Shizui said. "Look at yourselves. You can't fight each other like this."

"Why not?!" Homika snapped. "Pokémon do it! Why can't we?!"

"No, Pokémon don't usually beat each other like the way you two were just doing. I've only heard of Seviper and Zangoose doing that to each other. Not two human girls. And they certainly don't fight over silly reasons."

"It's not silly, she insulted me!" the two shouted at the same time. They started hissing and swinging their arms at each other. Piplup hopped up onto the stage and started pecking at his trainer's legs.

"I've never seen anyone do that before," Piplup said. "I mean, really. You two dove at each other just _like_ a Seviper and Zangoose."

"I'm Seviper, then," Raven said.

"Why? 'Cause you're a sneaky snake?"

"No, 'cause it's bigger than Zangoose."

Homika escaped Shizui's grasp, as did Raven, and they dove at each other again. Gwen finally hopped up onto the stage and assisted Shizui in pulling Raven away from Homika. Roo and Cook did the same with Homika, and both groups dragged the two girls far away from each other.

"Oh, god, you're out of your freaking mind," Piplup said.

"I'M NOT SHORT!" Raven screamed.

"NEITHER AM I!" Homika screamed.

"YES, YOU ARE!"

"THEN SO ARE YOU!"

Gwen wrapped her arms around Raven's neck. "Hush, hush, little puppy," she said. Something in Raven's neck cracked and she went limp. "Okay, I knocked her out. She'll be out for the next hour. Let's get her out of here before she and Homika really kill each other."

Blake, who had been watching this scene unfold with a front row seat, slowly turned around, walked back into the crowd, and decided to pretend he hadn't seen anything.

* * *

"You can't keep hurting yourself like this, Homika," the nurse said, dapping at the scratches on Homika's arms and face. "What happened?"

"I got in a fight," Homika said.

"I can see that. Why did you get into a fight?"

"No reason." Homika huffed, swinging her legs around impatiently.

A girl's voice at the doorway called out, "'Scuse us! We heard you've got some first aid stuff back here? Mind if we borrow some?"

Gwen and Raven entered the room. Homika and Raven locked eyes and dove at each other. Shizui was suddenly in the room, holding Raven back and away from Homika, who was being held back by the nurse.

"Do the Gwen Hold!" Gwen shouted. "The Gwen Hold!"

Unfortunately, no one knew what the Gwen Hold was. Hell, not even Gwen knew what the Gwen Hold was.

"I'll kill you when I get my hands on you!" Homika shouted.

"But my height'll give me the advantage in reaching you first!" Raven shouted.

"Is this really all about your height?!" the nurse asked.

Blake stood in the doorway, munching away on a foot long sandwich from hell. "I got an idea," he said between a mouthful of food. "Why don't you just measure yourselves and see who's taller?"

Homika and Raven stopped screaming. "That's genius!" Raven yelled.

"Let's measure ourselves, then!" Homika shouted.

"Please stop yelling and shouting everything you say," Blake said.

"What _is_ that you're eating?" Gwen asked.

"A sandwich, made by a Sand Witch."

"I don't get it."

"Yeah, I don't get half the things I say."

The nurse offered to do the measuring, as letting two arguing girls measure themselves would only end badly. She had them stand up against the wall, though certainly not together, and marked the wall with a pencil.

"I… I can't believe it," the nurse said. She stepped back from the wall in disbelief.

"What, what is it?!"

"Did you realize I was taller?" Homika asked.

"Hey, your shoes give you an unfair advantage."

"Did you forget the part where _we both took off our shoes_, brat?!"

The nurse turned around to face them, pointing at the wall. "I've never seen two people be _exactly_ the same height like this!"

"Are you _kidding_ me?!" Homika and Raven shouted. They rushed to the wall to see the marks the nurse had made. Sure enough, neither line was above or below the other. They were perfectly even. It was a bit creepy, actually.

Homika turned to Raven. "That can't be right, I'm just a bit taller than you right now."

"Your shoes, moron! Look at your damn shoes!"

"So," Blake said, "who's hungry? I am. Let's go get something to eat."

"Didn't you just finish eating a freaking sandwich?!"

"I am a growing young man," Blake answered with a deathly serious look on his face.

* * *

Author's Notes: So Raven and Homika are the same height. DO THE GWEN HOLD, YO.

Swampert: DO THE GWEN HOLD, YO.


	13. Chapter Twelve

Author's Notes: Um, so, like, sorry for not updating in half a year... That was a bad thing. But anyway. Um.

I'm going to try and finish Hoenn Tales, along with Seclusion, before I post more chapters for this story. If it makes you feel better, I've already finished the story. It's just in dire need of rewriting, since I followed the game pretty closely.

So yeah. Enjoy this sort-of filler chapter.

* * *

Chapter Twelve

Blake shrieked like a woman when he saw the restaurant Homika had brought them to. It was a fancy-looking place a bit away from the Pokémon Center. Blake slammed his face up against the front window, leaving his hot breath all over the window until Gwen grabbed the back of his jacket and dragged him into the restaurant.

"FOOOOOOD," Blake said. "Oh, god, I'm gonna die from all the smells, it smells so good, ARGH."

Night had fallen over Tachiwaki City. The restaurant was crowded with people, mostly couples and families. The chatter of people and the clinking of silverware filled the building. In the very back of the large restaurant was the kitchen; all sorts of noises were coming from there.

"Table for five?" a waiter said to the group. Homika nodded, and the waiter brought them to a booth by a window. He handed them five menus, bowed, and left them behind.

Blake was practically bouncing in his seat from excitement. Shizui placed a hand on his head to still him, but this only seemed to make it look as though Blake was about to blast off from his seat like a rocket.

Gwen sat next to Homika on one side of the booth, while Shizui, Blake, and Raven sat on the other side of the booth. This was the safest seating arrangement. Though it would have been pretty easy for Homika and Raven to just lunge across the table at each other. They hadn't murdered each other on the way to the restaurant, and they didn't seem like they were about to do it now, but hey, there was no time like the present.

The waiter who'd brought them to the table came back to them after a few minutes, with a pad of paper in his hand and a pen. "May I take your order?"

"Give me some food," said Blake.

"And what would you like?"

"Something edible."

The waiter was silent.

"Give him spaghetti and meatballs," Gwen said. "And... I'd like this thing right here..." she continued, pointing at something on the menu and showing it to the waiter.

"SPAGHETTIIIIII," Blake shouted, and started pounding his fists on the table. Gwen slammed her foot into his knee and he slammed his head down on the table, rattling it.

After they'd given the waiter their food orders, the waiter asked them what they wanted to drink.

"A tall glass of MooMoo Milk," Blake answered. "Moooooo."

"I hate to be so rude, but is there something wrong with your friend?" the waiter asked.

"No, I'm just Blake," said Blake. Gwen slammed her foot into his knee again. This time, he only winced. "And also, I'm a total masochist," Blake added. "Hit me more, please."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," the waiter said. "So milk for the crazy one, and what would the rest of you like?"

The other four quickly gave their drink orders to the waiter, who promptly hurried away, probably desperate to get away from Blake. And who could blame him, especially since Blake had just mooed at him as he was walking away.

Gwen slammed her hands on the table and across it to get into Blake's face. "Blake, are you _insane?!_ Stop that! You're embarrassing me!"

Blake gasped dramatically. "Wait! You know how to be _embarrassed?!_ Arceus help us!"

Gwen looked close to murdering Blake, but Shizui conveniently interrupted her before she did. "Now, now, Gwen, don't kill Blake," he said. "Just calm down." Gwen grimaced and sat back down in her seat. Meanwhile, Homika and Raven were doing their all-time favorite sport of glaring at each other with enough force to potentially burn holes in the other's head. Probably since they somehow wound up ordering the same thing as the other.

"Hey, Homika, can I battle you tomorrow?" Blake suddenly asked.

Homika turned away from Raven to answer him. "Sure! Don't worry, I'll just stick with Koffing and Hoiiga; I won't use Dustdas."

"And I'll use Mijumaru and Riolu!"

"All right!" Homika leaped up from her seat, hand bunched up into a fist. "It's a challenge! Come to the gym as early as possible tomorrow!"

"You bet I will!" Blake stood from his seat as well. "I'll come there as soon as I wake up!"

"I'll be there when I'm sleeping!"

"I'll come to the gym _asleep!"_

The waiter came by and dropped off their drinks. As Blake opened his mouth to speak to the waiter, the young man sprinted away before he could say anything.

"I was just gonna say thanks," Blake said. "What's that guy's problem?"

"Blake," Gwen slowly said. "You announced that you were a masochist and asked him to hit you more."

"Did I? Shit, there goes my split personality again. Hey, that reminds me, who wants to see something funny?"

"If it involves your ass, then no one wants to see it."

Blake coughed into his hand to clear his throat. Then, in an exact imitation of Gwen's voice, he loudly said, "Hee-hee, I'm a masochist, but I can't help it, desu! Please, hit me more! Ahhhh!"

People in the restaurant turned to look at the group, particularly at the boy who was making bizarre noises in a girl's voice. Homika, Shizui, and Raven had enough sense to move their drinks off the table, because then Gwen flew across the table and wrapped her hands around Blake's throat, choking him.

When the waiter came by with their food, Blake apologized to him, and promised that he'd never do something like that again. The waiter seemed reluctant to believe this, and with good reason, because as soon as he turned around to walk away, Blake leaned over and stuck a money bill in his back pocket. If the waiter noticed this, he didn't show it, and kept on walking away.

"Blake..." Gwen slowly began.

"DAT ASS," Blake said. "Sorry, I couldn't resist it, I had to."

Homika and Raven then entered a sudden eating contest to see who could finish their Cinnabar Volcano burgers first. Blake noisily slurped up his spaghetti and occasionally mooed, Shizui calmly and politely ate his salad, and Gwen was simply too embarrassed to even touch her food. People stared at the curious group, particularly whenever Blake mooed.

Someone began tapping on the window as Homika and Raven reached the last third of their burgers. The five of them all turned to look out the window, finding a man with jet black hair in a ponytail standing there, happily waving at them. Homika started choking on her food, having to drink a good amount of her soda until she was able to talk.

"D-Dad?!"

"Dun-dun-duuuuuuunnnn!" Blake said. He returned to eating his food and mooing.

Gwen hurried out of the booth to let Homika out, and watched as Homika rushed out of the restaurant, meeting up with the man outside. The man and Homika walked further away from the restaurant, but were still in sight.

"Can you make out what they're saying?" Blake asked.

"Nah, they've got their backs to us," Gwen said, her face pressed against the window. Raven was doing the same, munching away on the last of her burger while contemplating over whether to eat Homika's burger as well. "Homika seems pissed about something, though."

Sure enough, Homika did seem angry about something, her hands balled up into fists as she stomped her foot on the ground and shouted loudly enough for people in the restaurant to hear. A couple close by their booth wondered aloud what that noise was. Despite this, neither Gwen nor Raven could make out exactly what they were saying.

Eventually, the man walked away, leaving Homika standing there, her shoulders slumped.

"Wonder what that was about," Gwen said. Homika turned around and started back towards the restaurant. Gwen pulled away from the window. "Quick, act nonchalant," she said. Blake mooed.

Raven ignored Gwen's orders, keeping her face pressed against the window as Homika passed by. Gwen yanked her away from the window, then grabbed Raven's soda and gulped down the rest of it before setting it back down on the table.

Raven stared at her in shock. "Wha... What... Why'd you...?!"

"Ah, refreshing," Gwen said.

"What... why... WHAT?!"

Blake continued noisily eating his spaghetti, watching the stunned speechless Raven and the unbothered-by-her-own-actions Gwen. He decided right then that he really didn't understand women. Then again, were either of them actually women?

Blake glanced at Shizui, who had remained silent this entire time and was eating his food like a normal person.

Blake mooed again and returned to eating the last of his meal.

* * *

"Use Shell Blade!" Blake ordered. Mijumaru leaped up into the air, twirling around as she threw her shell at a tree. The shell grazed the trunk of the tree and came flying back at Mijumaru. Who, after many times of practicing and failing, finally managed to catch the returning shell.

Blake had gone out early that morning to train with Mijumaru and Riolu. Mijumaru had, at some point, learned a new move, according to the Pokédex; Shell Blade. So Blake had spent the morning having Mijumaru perfect the move. She had a lot of trouble with catching the shell as it returned to her, so most of their training had consisted of trying to catch the returning shell, in between running laps around the route and taking breaks.

As the morning passed, the slightly chilly air surrounding them gradually became warmer. More and more people came out onto the route. A couple of them challenged Blake to a battle. At first, he used Riolu in those battles, as he realized he'd been neglecting Riolu's training in his obsession to get Mijumaru to perfect Shell Blade, but he quickly moved on to training Mijumaru when Riolu became too exhausted.

And then, something happened.

When the battle finished, Mijumaru suddenly began to glow a white color. Blake, Riolu, and the young boy he'd been battling watching in fascination as the glowing Mijumaru changed shape, growing slightly taller and skinnier, a spike growing from the top of her head, and then the light faded.

A completely different Pokémon stood there in front of Blake. She still had her otter-like features, but her upper body was a turquoise color, and her legs were a dark blue. Two shells were now attached to her knees. Whiskers poked out from spots on her cheeks.

Blake's Pokédex began to beep, and he quickly took it out. The words, "Congratulations! Your Mijumaru has evolved into Futachimaru!" appeared on the screen.

Eh?

Mijumaru had...

"Woooow!" said the trainer he'd just battled. "I've never seen a Pokémon evolve before! Cool!"

It was more than that. It was SO FREAKING COOL. Mijumaru had evolved! Blake let out a cheer and began skipping around Mijumaru – no, Futachimaru. Futachimaru proudly hmphed and placed her hands on what was probably her hips. Riolu stared at Futachimaru with wide eyes.

"Hey, you've got two shells now!" Blake said. "Let's try it now! Shell Blade, on that tree over there!"

Futachimaru clumsily grabbed both shells and dashed at the tree. She slashed at the tree with the shells, down in an X motion, leaving a deep slice in the tree trunk.

"Hmm, still needs some work," Blake mumbled. "All right, let's go on a jog around the route! Come on, team, let's gooooo!"

Blake, Futachimaru, and Riolu started on their regular jog around the route, unaware of the fact that, at the gate atop the hill of the route, they were being watched by Shizui and Raven.

"He sure has a lot of energy," Raven grumbled. "He should go train at that place south of Tachiwaki."

"Maybe you should help him train," Shizui suggested.

"Yeah, right." Raven snorted. "I suck at training. That's why my Pichu's still a Pichu, my Piplup's still a Piplup, my Snorunt's still a Snorunt, and my Croagunk's still a Croagunk."

"Well, maybe you can accomplish some training with him."

Raven considered Shizui's Words of Wisdom. "No... You're totally right! No use crying over spilled milk! HEYYYYY, BLAKE!"

Shizui wanted to say that he wasn't sure Raven was using the phrase correctly, but the girl was already running down the hill after Blake. He shrugged and decided to head back to the Pokémon Center. Maybe he could go for a swim afterward...

"Blake, Blake, let's train together!" Raven shouted as she caught up with Blake. He looked at her in surprise.

"Eh, really? Man, you're sure acting different today than you were yesterday. Oh, hey, look! Mijumaru evolved!"

"Ohhhhh!"

And so the training began again. Raven used her Gallade, who was nicknamed Guru-n, to help Futachimaru perfect her Shell Blade again. Riolu trained alongside her Magnezone, who floated out of his reach until Riolu came up with a way to reach it in the air; he ran over to a tree, kicked off it, and spun through the air before he was able to attack Magnezone.

Finally, after around an hour or so of training, they took a break, resting down on the grass with their Pokémon. The Pokémon spoke to one another, Guru-n in plain English, while Magnezone beeped its responses to Futachimaru and Riolu.

"You know, I have a Riolu too," Raven said, hugging her knees to her chest. "I got him from a friend of mine."

"You do? Cool! We should totally have your Riolu and my Riolu train!"

"Oh, well... My Riolu's a bit..."

"Antisocial like yourself?"

"I... guess..."

"Ah, don't get depressed, I was totally joking, I swear!"

Raven shook her head and jumped up from the ground. "No!" she shouted. "No use crying over spilled milk! Come on, Blake, let's _do_ this! We're gonna have you beat Homika's ass today!"

And Blake suddenly realized why Raven was so eager to help him train. She just wanted to see Homika lose a battle.

* * *

Author's Notes: Futachimaru's English name is Dewott, Shell Blade is called Razor Shell. Also, I'll probably use the English move names from now. It's easier for me.

It might be a while to the next chapter, but Seclusion's almost finished, and I just need to do the Pokémon League arc of Hoenn Tales before it's finished as well.

I want to hurry and finish this thing before Pokémon X & Y come out. I'm soooo excited for that.


End file.
